every day, life is peaceful in a small town

sigh. faint. A celebrity read my blog! Well, a well-known local anyway. Mr. Wyckoff himself, whom I quoted here, saw that post and he promptly sent me this photograph of him and his bank staff dressed for Halloween. Even small-town bankers and accountants like to have fun.

It's a bird...it's a plane, no...it's SuperWitch! She flew smack-dab into the electric pole in the countryside. She almost made it to town. I've seen these witch dolls attached to chimneys, trees and other tall things in The Big City, but there was just something hilarious about driving home through farming country recently and suddenly spotting one fastened to an electric pole. As if the witch was flying cross-crountry and had a mishap almost in the middle of nowhere!

Friday football

One option for Friday night entertainment in The Small Town is the local high school football game. We went there last night.
The admission charge is just a dollar or two cheaper than the high school games in The Big City. The concession food prices are about the same also. 1 mystery meat hot dog + 1 bag of popcorn + 2 cardboard pizza slices= $7.00. Whether there or here, two people can watch the game for the price of one movie theatre ticket.
The half-time show brought to us of course by the high school marching band. Throughout the game I think of my niece who is a trumpeter in the marching band at her high school back in The Big City.

Boy oh boy was it cold! (to me. My Darling Husband thought it refreshing.) It's time to bring out the scarves and heavy gloves.

Go team! Ours are the fellows in orange and black.

Sigh. Football is one of those things I'll just never understand. My Darling Patient Husband--and others in the past--explains some of the rules and technicalities of the game to me, but they've gone out my other ear by the time we watch the next game. But knitting I understand and it's portable. I once took my knitting to my niece's high school's football game. Probably I was the only knitter in the stands. But no matter. It made the minutes fly by until my niece marched with her bandmates on to the field.Even though I am usually totally oblivious to the wheeling and dealing of the moment (Where's the ball??? Which way are they running???), I have the uncanny ability to follow along the game. All I have to do is watch what the crowd is doing. When other fans clap and cheer, I know it is time to clap and cheer.

Of course, that works best when the section I'm sitting in is occupied only by one team's fans. It doesn't work too well at an NFL game where fans from both teams are mixed up like cookie dough in the stands. When My Darling Husband and I were on our honeymoon last year, I surprised him with tickets to a Denver Broncos game. We cheered for the Broncos that day. I remember accidentally clapping for the opposing team then slinking back down into my seat in slight disconcertment upon the realization. The Broncos won that game and even I was excited. I do enjoy going to football games.

Watching it on television is another story. That's like listening to someone talk in a foreign language I don't understand. A foreign language that's not pretty to hear. Once in a million quarters I can follow the ball and then I know what is going on. For a few moments.

Think I'll knit up an orange scarf to match my black coat. Darling Husband requests a manly black scarf. At least I understand color theory.

are you making this deposit into your savings, checking, or just on our lawn?

This paragrah is so small-town life! (The complete article, written by Bill Wyckoff, can be read here.) Just nonchalantly ride your horse through town as if there's no such thing as a vehicle. You can do that in a really small town. In The Small Town you might receive a few surprised looks from motorists. In The Big City, a horseowner would have to drive over to the stables where the horse is boarded, and probably have to get a special permit for a one-time ride through town or participate with your horse in a parade.

"....I just received a cell call from Janet, a long time bank employee. She sounded distraught; I thought something was really wrong. She said a group of kids on horse back came by the bank when she was leaving the parking lot. I’m thinking one of the horses must have kicked her car, bucked off a young rider or something. I ask if she was OK, she said yes but one of the horses left a huge deposit of road apples right in the middle of our drive-in lane.
I broke out laughing, and she said, “I really didn’t expect that reaction from you."
So there you have it, the life of a banker in a small rural town. If the dogs aren’t leaving deposits on the front lawn then the horses are in the back. I must have had too much fun today so I’m headed out to check on my cows.
Hope you are having a great day also."

communication is key

My Darling Husband and I have great communication skills.

He says things without saying a word and I get the message.

"Come to bed, Honey. You shouldn't stay up so late."


"Will you do something already with the giant squash that's been sitting on the kitchen counter for the last two weeks!?"And here the poor squash is crying out for help: Help me! I'm a vegetable.