Vacation time, or as I call it, “get out of Dodge” time to refresh the mind and soul was super extended this past month, as you may have noticed by my absence from the Clay County Fair and several other community events around the county. But as I annually look at our working calendar, July is pretty much the only time that I have a chance to take a long break.
I’d be remiss to not say thank you to the CCN staff for allowing me to get lost for nearly two-and-a-half of the past three weeks because it was they who took on the brunt of the rat race that encompasses the month of July. Thank you all for giving me the chance to take the much-needed break!
Travels took me to North Dakota on a fishing trip, oh, and a few stops at casinos so that some of the people I traveled with could have their time in the gaming areas.
I, myself, am not a gambler, but I did take a pull or two on a few slot machines, but my luck was more of a donation to the casinos that we stopped at.
Our fishing excursion took us to Devils Lake in northcentral to northwest North Dakota, about 40-50 south of the Canadian border. The catch was mostly walleye and a few northern pike, but the time with friends on the water was priceless, and to top it all off, I had never been to North Dakota.
While the scenery wasn’t overly impressive, I called North Dakota the “3-H” state (hay, heat, and hills).
Hay: I had never in my life seen so many round bales of hay. I’m telling you, you couldn’t drive a full mile without seeing round bales, and while I know Nebraska has a lot, North Dakota and South Dakota for that matter has far more hay than my eyes have ever seen.
Heat: The North Dakota heat, while to me wasn’t unbearable, but the locals through that it was awful. I told our fishing guide on the first day to suck it up, but he was stressed to make sure we brought in some fish, which we did, but it wasn’t a great day to land the fish, because of the heat.
Hills: The terrain in North Dakota was much like southcentral Nebraska, rolling hills that weren’t huge or winding, but they were the landscape for nearly all of the North Dakota miles that we put on. It was covered by a lot of wheat and canola. Canola had a canopy of florescent green tops which stood out for miles along our drive to and from the state.
After my first trip of July, and a few days in the office, I then took a family get-together trip to see my sisters in their homes.
I started with a few days in Iowa where my baby sister, Tara, and her family live, literally just inside Iowa near Sidney. Because of my schedule this past school year, it was the first time at their home since June 2023, so a 13-month span since I had last been to their home.
They live on the bluffs near the little town of Thurman, IA, a town about the size of Glenvil.
With their upper-level deck looking out over the Missouri River valley, I’m sure you can guess where the majority of my time was spent. I challenged my nephew, Rowen, to a round of golf on his home course and had him beat through four holes, but this old man ran out of gas on the final five holes and he beat me pretty good.
I then headed to Paxton to see my oldest baby sister, Tonya. Again, to see Tonya is always a great time, like it is Tara and her family. It was a time to chill, catch up and just relax, which is exactly what all of my travels were in July.
My first day back, this past Monday, marked the one-year anniversary of the EF-1 tornado that beat up Sutton, and continues to be a challenging battle. I’ll never wish insurance battles on anyone, but this past year, on top of the workload, has been draining, frustrating, and exhausting, and in relation to the damage to our building, it continues to be the major stress point for me, so unfortunately, that didn’t magically go away over the past three weeks and remains as a big challenge moving forward.
SCOOPTHE NEWS CAT
Some of you will just roll your eyes as I close out this week’s Bull, and that is fine, but I grew up in an animal- loving family, and our pets were always a big part of our lives.
During my trips these past three weeks, Scoop, who has been living with me after the tornado damaged our building, started having some health issues. The vet assumes that maybe a spider bite or some kind of bite, caused him to have an abscess in his right ear, so I’m trying to nurse the old boy back to health, but he’s struggling to bounce back. I’m not sure what Scoop’s future holds, but I’m trying my best to keep the “legend” of Sutton’s downtown going and get him back to health. The old boy, who’s most likely pushing 15-16 years of age, is hanging in there, but isn’t feeling the best for sure.
