Big and Bloated

Two weekends ago we went to Tremont. It was a very nice weekend, but by the time we reached home I was sore and my feet swelling. This was the first time this happened. Sometimes I am ready for our child to come out right now. I suppose it's better if I just acquire a little patience and realize that soon enough he/she will be here. Last week was in the 40's and 50's during the day. True Minnesotans were commenting how nice the fall weather was. I personally thought that it was a little chilly to be considered fall weather. This week it is back in the 70's which is more my cup of tea. The garden is finally done. I enjoyed working with it and reaping fresh produce, canning, freezing, etc. but after awhile they can become somewhat of a burden. The only thing we have left to freeze is potatoes, but we are going to wait to do this until later. We may as well eat them while they're fresh. Last Friday I did something I don't usually do for the City. I don't totally understand it, but the runoff or something from the sewer plant empties into a drainage ditch. The phone company was running fiberoptics through the area and cut through a sewer pipe, so this caused a problem. An excavating company came in and had to redig the ditch and needed trucks to haul the mud/grass/sewage to a nearby field, so for most of the day I got to drive a big dump truck. (It is used for a snow plow in the winter.) It was fun but I felt like a definite beginner. The excavator finally would put his bucket out to the exact spot he wanted me to back up to. My only consolation was that a fellow truck driver said it looked like I had been doing this all my life rather than for my first time. He might have just been making me feel better. It was pretty enjoyable except for it would get muddy from stuff slushing out our trucks, and then he would have to push us out with his back hoe. Also carrying a baby and driving over extremely bumpy fields isn't exactly the most comfortable always.

I also started another job last week. It is couple days a week over noon time. Doug Nohl started a business called Wurst Machers which translates to Sausage Makers. We travel to area companies and grill (on a huge grill like Famous Daves' uses) pork burgers and sell them. He has a man named Benji who kind of runs the show. Everything we do is in a trailer pulled behind a pick-up. A lady named Jeannette and I mainly do the bag packaging and meat packaging when it comes off the grill and distribute food when people come to our window. This is the second week of business and we have high hopes for the future.

Today I started pressure washing the trucks from last week. It was a disgusting job that I think would have been easier to do on Friday. Then in the afternoon I went shopping in Alexandria. I have decided to start Christmas shopping while I am feeling up to it.

Babies R Us

Michelle Mueller stayed with us last week - one last vacation before school started. We went boating on Sat. We mainly stayed close to shore and viewed the spectacular lake homes. Unfortunately both of us had to work so Michelle had the mornings to her self. (I don't think she minded the R & R.) My boss' dad passed away so I worked by myself the entire week except Friday. More mowing, painting, and branch clean-up got done. There are 57 fire hydrants in Hancock and 55 of them were painted by me. The other two were brand new. In the afternoons we had to do some canning, but one of the days we went to Alexandria shopping. It is a quaint little tourist town. The mainstreet is lined with shops so we stopped there. Rustin had to truck a couple evenings, so Michelle road with him once. She decided trucking maybe wasn't for her. As she headed home on Sat., we headed to the Cities to clean-up Rustin's dad's business. It took all day to cut and haul branches, so I was beat by the end of the day. We stayed at the apt. down there and went to Cities church on Sunday. It was the same weekend of the State Fair so there were several visitors. For those of you who don't recieve the Minneapolis Star Tribune, you missed a top story involving some of my relatives, the Wulfs. Wulf Limousin Farm was unloading their bulls when one of them got loose at the Fair. It couldn't find any other bulls so it got scared and took off running through the crowd of fair-goers. For some unknown reason (I think it was meant to happen) it bucked a fire-hydrant and fell dead on the spot. Fortunately no one was hurt and the city people had some excitement for their day. We didn't go to the fair, but instead after church went to the Mall of America to walk around. Our purpose for going to the cities was to baby shop. On Monday we hit Babies R Us and Target and purchased items such as crib, changing table, stroller, carseat, pack n play- using our parents' gift money. Since it was both of our first time in Babies R Us, we thought it was a neat store. After an all day shopping spree, we now feel like we are more prepared to have our baby. I'm glad Rustin was along to help choose items. Soon he will have no time to go shopping as he will be in the fields. Tomorrow we leave for Tremont, and sadly enough this will be the last time before the baby arrives. Just a side note: I have had dreams about the baby being either sex, so I think there is no clear sign as to what we are having. We will wait and see!