I'm An Angel!

As you know, I like to knit. I usually either make stuff for us or for friends/family or I send to a place in Ohio that distributes to the homeless/people in need. That's all well and good, but it seems that everyone has all the stuff they need (let me know if you're in need of slippers or a hat) and the charity in Ohio really wants things in dark colors for men. I get it and I understand that there's not much dignity for a man to be wearing a wildly striped hat or scarf, but I am a little bored with knitting in black and brown, so I went searching for other places to donate.

I found Soldiers' Angels. I looked around their site and did some Google searches to see if it's a scam (probably not) and decided to sign up.

I've signed up to knit baby items for virtual baby showers for soldiers and the wives of soldiers, afghans for adults who are deployed or in a VA facility and to write letters to a couple soldiers. I also have an epal.

I wrote the epal first and already got a response. She's a woman in her 40s who has been deployed to Afghanistan. There is some info available about the people who are seeking correspondence and I picked her because I thought we'd have a few things in common. In her reply to my initial message, she said it was like a breath of fresh air to hear from me because getting to know someone new helps to pass the time and is a nice distraction from her mission.

If anyone can be a distraction from a mission...it's me.

I have letters ready to send to my other two soldiers and I've started an afghan.

It's only been a couple days since I enrolled, but so far so good. If you're looking for a way to encourage others, you might want to check out their website. Again, I'm new at this and make no endorsements. I know there are lots of scams out there, but this seems legit. You do have to put in a credit card so they can verify your ID and they charge it $1/mo apparently so they know who is active and who isn't. Everything else is on your own and you record how much time and money you spend on each thing you do.

I need to find some small things to include in my letters that could be a fun diversion. Any ideas?

Waffles In A Hangar

We've been seeing signs around town for an event featuring Dad's Belgian Waffles (Click here for their website) at the Fergus Falls Municipal Airport and being fans of Belgian waffles and airports, we decided to attend.

I'll admit that i anticipated folding tables in the grass next to a grass airstrip. I was wrong. Fergus Falls has a very nice airport and we enjoyed ourselves.

This was a fly in or drive in event (we drove), but there were several planes landing and taking off while we were there. There were many families with small children enjoying the waffles, nice weather and planes. The kids were pretty excited to get tours inside a couple planes and a helicopter.

Plenty of seating and they had a steady crowd coming and going while we were there. Note the syrup station in front of the airplane. 

Twenty-five waffle irons (I counted) no waiting. 

The end result with real whipped cream. 

At first glance, it appeared there wasn't much to do in Fergus Falls, but we've found that if we just look a bit more closely and pay attention to the community calendar there are some nice events to attend. Looking forward to seeing what else we find while we're here.

This Makes Me Smile

While I was out buying groceries, a young entrepreneur (about 8 years old) accosted Chris and offered to mow our lawn for $5. She was raising money to send her sister to a camp for kids with special needs. Although the campground takes care of mowing, Chris, of course, struck a deal.

When I got home he told me the story and I commented on the girl's initiative. Chris said, "Yeah, and she even gave me her business card."

I don't think we'll need any rototilling and I sure hope we don't need snow plowing, but I kept the card because it makes me smile every time I look at it. 

Hope it has the same affect on you. 

Big Times in Minnesota

We finally got our own cable and wifi, so I'm back online. Turns out you can get month to month service, so that's what we've done. Thank goodness. I don't think we could handle many more episodes of the Minnesota only PBS station.

After the whirlwind of activity on our trip out here, life is pretty sedate. We've been working here in MN for about a month without too much excitement. The area is beautiful and they aren't kidding about that 10,000 lakes thing, but there's not a whole lot to do.

But don't worry, we've been able to entertain ourselves with finding large statues. It seems that nearly every town has something. Here's a sampling. Each place seems to claim their statue is the "world's largest ____". I'm not going to argue about it. These things are big.

World's largest Otter located in a park about half a mile from our campground. World's best husband standing next to him for perspective and because it's fun to have your picture taken w/a giant otter. Fergus Falls is the county seat of Otter Tail County and the Otter Tail River flows through the county and beyond. All the way to Canada, we've been told. Or it flows here from there, more accurately. 

Giant loon in Vergas, MN. Actually the species is called the Vergas Loon. The other loon is Chris. He's a loon lover. 

Giant clothes pin. I don't know why. 

Giant coffee cup at same location (random gas station along the road) as the giant clothespin. 

World's largest Walleye, Wahpeton, ND>