Russ Come and Went

The weekend has come and gone and it's already Tuesday!

Russ came home Friday night. He arrived just after 11 p.m. It was sure nice to know he made it without any difficulties. Saturday morning came and Russ and I started the day slowly, watching some t.v. He got going on the taxes just before noon.

David and Adrienne arrived. They brought our noon meal - brats and chips. They had gotten a good deal on brats when they were in Marshall early in the week and wanted to share them with us. While we worked on cooking and Adrienne worked on laundry, Russ continued working on taxes.

We ate dinner around 1 p.m., enjoying the beautiful day outdoors. Since it was such a beautiful day (sunny and hardly any wind), we spent most of the afternoon outside, taking it easy. That evening we all went to John & Dawne's for more conversation. Josh, Sarah, Katelyn and Mikey were there too. Since we hadn't been there in quite some time, we spent a lot of time there then.

Since Russ didn't get back to taxes on Saturday, after dinner, he finished doing taxes on Sunday. That task is now done for one more year.

When David and Adrienne went home Saturday night, they drove the pickup truck home so they could use it to run errands on Sunday, since Russ is using it while working in ND. Otherwise, D&A had wanted to postpone running those errands for during the week and save Sunday for relaxing. But, that was not the case. So, after doing their Sunday morning activities, they took care of running their errands - one of which included bring their x-mas tree out to the farm here for disposal. They figured they must have looked pretty silly driving around with a Christmas tree in their vehicle!

They arrived here around 1 p.m. I had a meal of pork chops and fried potatoes planned and prepared for them when they arrived. But, we didn't serve it up right away. Russ was nearly finished with taxes and I didn't want to interrupt him again. So, we waited for him to finish before we ate. There was no eating outside and enjoying the great outdoors on Sunday though. The weather changed drastically. It was extremely windy and the sun had to fight to get any rays to us.

I don't remember what time D&A went home - sometime in the afternoon. But, Russ and I went into town and visited with Corinne Sunday evening. We had a good chat that kept us out till around 10 p.m.

Monday rolled around and Russ had to prepare to head back to ND. Russ had originally planned on leaving around 1 p.m. But, there was bad weather threats in ND. So, he upped his leave time. He left shortly after 11 a.m. It was a good thing he did. He said that when he got to Bismarck and started heading north to Washburn, he encountered rain changing over to snow. One other concern for the trip was the flooding in Fargo/Moorhead. But, as of Monday, he didn't have any trouble getting through.

I called him around 8 p.m. concerned that the predict blizzard may have caused him serious trouble - since he didn't call me at 6ish, when I expected him to arrive. But, he arrived 6ish just fine. He unpacked and went grocery shopping before I called. He was just finishing up with his supper when I called. I was so relieved that he was o.k. - since the forecast wasn't good. Also, his mom had called me around 7 p.m. also concerned. After Russ and I were done with our chat, I called her and let her know he was fine, with no complications.

Today, the weather was a much different story for him. He was really glad that he made it back yesterday, for a couple reasons. Some of I-94 had been closed down today to the west of Fargo for several miles due to the flooding. Plus, the blizzard hit hard today. He told me that his ride share guy named Kurt and he headed to work this morning only to be sent home after 45 minutes. Not very many had showed up for work - and none of them were the foremen. He also said that the drive back to Washburn was a lot worse than the drive to the job site. The wind picked up drastically. So, Russ didn't do much today. He said he got a 3 hour nap. I thought that was good. He's been needing some extra rest. He got a bad cold over the weekend and has been trying to fight it off. In a sense, the bad cold wasn't all bad. He probably would have been going much more stir crazy sitting in a motel room all day, with no where to go, if he'd been feeling better.

As for me, today I've been quilting. I have a project I want to get finished up before the weather gets nice enough to spend all my time outside. Plus, Mom would like to see it and we're talking about exchanging fabric - if I have enough to spare. I have to finish the quilt top before I'll know if I have it to spare.

A walk down to the mailbox and back and quilting was pretty much the extent of my day. The weather has been dreary here, with some sprinkles in the a.m. - no snow storm anyways. I plan to putz a bit more on the quilt top this evening while listening to the t.v. Otherwise that about wraps it up.