Coop's Corner: December 2024

Monday, December 16, 2024

Hats And Cold Water - 2024/12/16

Family ... Do NOT visit this blog Post!!

Not until after Christmas!!

Peg's been busy with hats....

I know which one is mine but I'm not telling. Top right is Arthur's, the only one that has been test-fit. Ears (holes) needed tweaking, otherwise we're good to go.

More hikes.....

And finally.....the Cold Water.

Sunday, December 15, 2024

80th Anniversary in Bastogne - 2024/12/14

Our son Ben is in the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army and was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the 80th anniversary ceremonies of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. The Army flew him over, he flew his lovely bride over in order for them to attend and represent his unit together.

Here's the AP's overview....

In the museum...

Mrs. Cooper was able to leave home a day early and spend time exploring Brussels before Ben arrived in time for the official ceremonies.

"Nuts".....the American response to the Germans' demand to surrender.

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

CPKC Holiday Train In Wabasha Minnesota - 2024/12/10

Two years ago to the day on a milder evening, a large crowd gathered at Bruegger Park in Wabasha, MN to attend the Canadian Pacific's Holiday Train. I was there back then and last night I was once again present. That evening I had the drone along with some lovely aerial footage. In 2024 I only used my phone for the images and video that follows.

This railroad crossing is known well to all of my motorcycles, the preferred route through Wabasha for Wisconsin rides that use Mississippi River bridge to Nelson, WI.

In Bruegger Park, a half hour before the train arrived....

The train was ahead of its 5:45 scheduled arrival...

Walking over to the other side....

I left the program early in order to be track-side in Frontenac when the train was making its way north to the next stop in Hastings, MN

That's it, a chilly, windy evening and yet the turnout of area folks was quite amazing.

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Still Autumn.... - 2024/12/10

....but not for long.

Lots of Autumnly things going on, enjoying being outside, at least for the most part. After the extra warm early fall that we've had, there's been a few days extra cold.

Other than a light 1" of snow, one day....we've had no other accumulation. From what I'm seeing in the '10 Day', we'll be lucky to have a White Christmas. Now old enough, I'll be able to cope with that....there have been many white ones at this point.

Vehicles have been winterized, the plows are on both snow moving 4WD machines, the walk-behind snowblower popped right off and should be ready. Last year I did the Annual Maintenance on it, the first in 4 years.

We move ever closer to finally emptying with the eventual removal of the mobile home that allowed us to live where we are while building our permanent house. It was a big adventure having it moved onto our property, leaving a home in the city for rural living "...in a trailer...". But we have nothing but fond memories of those days....warm, dry and well fed. The 4 young-uns that grew up here feel the same way as far as I've been able to tell. Serving as a storage facility, the trailer's time here needs to come to its end.

Not the only exercise I've been getting, the pooch and I are still out exploring every day. Hoofing it rather than wheeling, we're doing well.

Peg and Arthur go often but they just walk, he and I sniff and explore.

Every so often in the "off" season (not hot and ice-cream-focused) we get to Nelson for a midday meal. I continue to promise to try something new but seem to always come back to my Mr. T sandwich.

Eating out much less often, we're trying to do more of this.....

Aromatically distinct and a long-time favorite, our Meatless Chili hits these cold wind-chill evenings where it counts.

The Christmas cards have begun to arrive .....and I need to get busy in kind.

But not tonight. If things go as planned, I'll have some more blog content to work with later this evening.

Stay tuned....

Monday, December 2, 2024

There Are Days.... - 2024/12/02

I missed this at Thanksgiving, it was still in my pocket over the holiday weekend.

I hear it all of the time..."Oh, I couldn't drive a school bus....the kids...."

Well yeah, there are more of those times than seem really necessary but then this beautiful surprise comes along....

Peg's over being jealous, the trust still strong enough....we'll get through this.

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)