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Wannaskan Almanac for Saturday, June 9th

It's Saturday, June 9th. Or, if you are the Tuesday writer of the Wannaskan Almanac, June 9. I've been trying both ways, and I just seem to be a "-th" kind of gal.

Happy (official) Birthday to the Queen!

My birthday was this past Thursday, too, and I was born ON a Saturday (Google told me so) so it's birthday wishes all around.

Facebook is good for jogging some memories. Speaking of which, ON THIS DAY five years ago, I ran the Sour Grapes 10k with my cousin. I'd spent all spring racking up the miles on asphalt around flat Warroad only to discover the course was a nature trail that had more hills in that one stretch than all of  Wannaskan region combined. The race was both torturous and fun, in that painfully bizarre yet blissful way only running can be. I had just gotten a new phone with more brains than my previous one and was excited to have tunes on my phone. (Something relatively new to me, even though other runners had been doing this with their iPods and iPod Nanos since the caveman era. Remember Walkmans? I tend to show up to the party late on many trends, but I digress.)

During the race, every time I powered up the hills, I would imagine myself as a mule. Every descent, I transformed into a gazelle. I thought a lot about our hiking trips out West - like Harney's Peak in the Black Hills and Sacajawea Peak near Bozeman, Montana. It was morning, but the sun was already beating on us, adding a new dimension of discomfort to this awful why-I-did-I-sign-up-for-this race. But then, as all races do, with the passing of each cardboard sign that ticked off the miles (or it could have been kilometers) the race oddly got easier. I found a bounce in my step that paired with the beat of the music blasting in my ears. Thank God, too, because as I powered up yet another hill around mile 5 then hit an incredibly squishy, sandy beach-like stretch feeling pretty good about myself, a snake slithered right across my path! I yelped and leaped over it, eyes on that last mile, ever vigilant for anymore lurking reptiles. That adrenaline rush of terror pushed me through that last mile and I sailed across the finish line thinking that I might have one more mile in me after all - for the next race.

After the race I got a hair cut. Then I think we celebrated with really big margaritas. But that could have been a different year.

Anyway, back to my birthday.

Thank you to my many family and friends around the world who believe in celebrating, not only birth DAYS, but also birthday weeks and birthday months. The church ladies celebrated with a birthday cake on Wednesday (shared with my church lady, birthday twin). More friends and another birthday twin joined me Wednesday night for my Norwex Birthday party. My weekly Coffee and Cribbage date treated me to a birthday brownie and Caribou Coffee wished me a Happy Birthday with a free coffee. Thursday night my family did a Halloween-Birthday Celebration. I already shared this on Facebook, but it's just so darn adorable, I have to post it again here. This one's my new screensaver. For sure.


Here's a Top Ten list of highlights from the last year (Actually it's the first ten things I thought of, but that doesn't sound nearly* as nice.)

  1. Finally finished the first draft of my second book. (A Herculean feat of epic proportions.)
  2. Had 10 attendees at my annual Lake of the Woods Artists Retreat (Sign up today for 2018!)
  3. Got another cat named Mr. Fuzzy once we realized that Miss Kitty wasn't going to work.
  4. Served as District 2 Director for MNWT
  5. Got an artist's grant
  6. Became a TARP-approved teaching artist for northwestern Minnesota
  7. Started blogging for the Wannaskan Almanac
  8. Gained 10 pounds
  9. Added a new driver to our household
  10. Read more

As I wade deeper into the Lake of Mid-Forties, I find that I feel pretty good. No health issues, no medications. The misnomer "Kid Hruba" by my W.A. colleague, Wannaska Writer, is really only par for the course. Even though I don't use the magical black soap produced by the Owens sisters from my last read, The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman, my father-in-law insists that I look younger as the years pass. So, I take no offense for the misperception. I will gladly be "Miss-ed" when I should probably be "Ma'am-ed."

Kid-provided (video) Game Fun Facts

Hi, this is David, Kim's son. You're probably wondering why I'm writing in my mom's post. Well, it turns out that I'm doing this for two reasons: #1: My mom's birthday present. #2: To write about what my mom once wrote about: The games I play either on her phone or on her computer.

Minecraft: This game is a good game where you dig or mine resources that the game gives you to craft objects that help you fight mobs and survive. For a while, my mom pressured me to play Minecraft and not other games that I play to be creative.

Geometry Dash: For this game, I decide to get it because my brother had it on his phone. I asked my mom if I could get the game and she gave me a list of chores. At first, I first didn't like it, but when I got the game, all the chores were worth it. In the game, you can do a lot of cool stuff including making your own levels, playing a bigger selection of levels with an actual point to the game, not just playing the levels. You can also play other people's levels which is pretty cool.

Hill Climb Racing: My mom loves this game. She once told me that she could play this game all day. And I agree with her. You have to climb the hill without tipping over. Hill Climb Racing is a fun game where you can ride a vehicle to complete levels, or just play for fun.

Run and Run 3: This is a computer game that is really simple. You're an alien that jumps over holes in the ground in space to complete levels or to run in infinite mode. While you're going through the levels, the levels will slowly get harder which makes the game more difficult. This game makes my mom nervous because it looks like I'm falling through outer space.

Surviv.io: This game is two dimensional which is quite interesting. You're basically a circle that has two smaller circles for hands with different colored sticks that represent guns that shoot white, light green, or blue lines that represent bullets flying. The game is mostly fun if you play it with a friend. The point of the game is to ultimately survive and be the last person standing. My mom doesn't like this game because it involves killing and she's suspicious she got a computer virus from it.

- David

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

1967 - Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria
Israel's occupation of the territory and the establishment of Israeli settlements in the area continue to hamper negotiations to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing Middle East conflict.

1957 - Four Austrian climbers become the first to conquer Broad Peak
Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl reached the 8051 meter high summit of one of the world's highest mountains on the border of Pakistan and China.

1946 - Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned King of Thailand
As of 2014, he is the world's longest reigning head of state, with nearly 70 years on the throne.

1934 - Donald Duck makes his film debut in The Wise Little Hen
The short-tempered duck typically wearing a sailor suit is one of Walt Disney's most famous cartoon characters. Donald's first book appearance was in The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, which was published in 1931.

1928 - Charles Kingsford Smith completes the world's first trans-Pacific flight
The Australian aviator and his 4-man crew had departed Oakland, California on the morning on May 31. Nine days later, after several stops, they landed safely in Brisbane.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1963 - Johnny Depp, American actor, singer, producer, director

1961 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian/American actor, producer, author

1961 - Aaron Sorkin, American screenwriter, producer, playwright

1915 - Les Paul, American guitarist, songwriter, co-designed the Gibson Guitar

1891- Cole Porter, American composer

Summer Vacation Week #2 Report: The older two kids were gone for a 2-day leadership training, learning about how to steer their peers towards healthy, drug and alcohol-free choices. The littles played with other littles in our neighborhood. I have a new (read: updated) weather app that alerts me whenever a rainstorm is headed our way. So far, every alert it's produced has yielded no rain. At summer track (every Thursday at 6pm), I took nearly a minute off the previous week's mile, coming in at a cool 10 min 15 seconds.

The gnats are vicious, but get outside anyway and make it a great Saturday!

Kim


* I threw in this adverb just to rankle my Tuesday W.A. peep. LOL! :)












Comments

  1. Your article reminds me of my kid’s 5th cosplay themed birthday bash that I hosted in last year. It was such a great party. Now my sister is getting married on the same day at one of the destination wedding venues so we will not be able to host the birthday bash. Just cake cutting will be done in the couple’s reception party.

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