ND-Day 7

It's my last full day in ND. Tomorrow I will be leaving to go back to Omaha. Last night my brother and his family went home. Today my sister leaves on her 2 day journey back to Oregon. But for today, there are no definite plans to do anything so I'll just hang out at Dad and Beverly's.

Cathy and I were still staying out at the farm and while she got her things packed up and ready to be on her way to Tioga to say goodbye to Dad and Beverly, I was outside burning some piled up trash. It's quite a bit different in the country. There are no garbage trucks that come by to get your trash. So you burn anything flammable. If you do recycle, it needs to be taken into town.
Once that job was done and it had burned down a lot, I got cleaned up and headed to Tioga. When I rounded the corner on Dad's street, I saw Cathy's vehicle still in the driveway! I was surprised! She had wanted to be on the road by that time. And about 10 minutes after I got there, long time family friends, Floyd and Doreen, came driving up in their motor home on their way out of town to visit more family. They live in Seattle, WA but had driven here for the centennial as well. Mom and Doreen were friends since back in school. So Cathy got to see them before she was on her way.
After eating some cake and having coffee, Floyd and Doreen also left so that they could leave and go to Jamestown, ND. Without hesitation, I grabbed my camera. No surprise there, right?

Dad, Beverly, Floyd and Doreen Hunt

The Hunt's traveling rig.

Later during the day, it was quiet at Dad's. He was busy paying bills while I was on my computer. Beverly was napping. But we had a phone call from my Uncle's wife, Janet. She invited us to come out that night for birthday cake for my Uncle Alden's birthday, which is the 12TH. They would be leaving later in the same week for a trip so they were having company over tonight instead. They happen to live in the house that my Grandparents lived in years before. And it is located 1/2 a mile up the road from my Dad's farm where I grew up and was currently staying! So it was a bit strange for me to walk into the house and still smell the old familiar scent that once belonged to my Grandparents. My cousin Laura that was there noticed it too! We got permission to look around the house to see what had changed.

Not one to miss out on any pictures, I began taking more snapshots of everyone that was there. But I think all of us had a camera. However, I was snapping some sneaky shots! Not many caught on to what I was doing!

My cousin Laura (Dad's brother Ray's daughter), Aunt Penny(Dad's sister), cousin Jeff's wife Wanda, and Jeff talking to my Dad who's shoulder is barely visible.

Uncle Elton (back to camera), Dad, Alden (Dad, Penny, Rose and Ray's brother) and cousin Randy (Elton's son).

Randy, Elton, Beverly (Dad's wife) and cousin Laura (back to camera).


Uncle Ray and his wife Connie, Janet (Alden's wife), Rose (Dad, Ray, Penny and Alden's sister) and cousin Joel (Alden's son).

Aunt Penny, cousin Laura, Connie and Dad

Wanda, Jeff, Elton, Randy, Alden

Alden's birthday cake....very annoyed at having more pictures! Hee!

It was fun just to sit around and enjoy quiet conversation after such a busy weekend. Even though we started out on the driveway in the cool air, a thunderstorm moved in and we were forced to go inside. Again, it reminded me of family get-togethers for pretty much any occasion!

Eventually everyone made their way home and I went back down the road (all 1/2 mile of it!) and stayed at the farm. I can't remember the last time I was there alone. Much different than being in my house in the city of Omaha. Very peaceful. The only noise I heard was the air conditioning coming on and going off....well, until I fell asleep. My mind was racing and full of the weekend's activities and conversations that I'd been involved with. I'm already looking forward to my next trip back to North Dakota.