Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:11 AM, CST
I am sitting at the Mpls airport with a four hour layover trying to
keep myself out of the stores…can’t fit anything else in my suitcase
as it is after a great trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I went for a
two day conference but managed to squeeze in a couple of fun days
before and after. Cousin Nancy Hosmer Baldwin flew to Alq with me and
we met my sister, Cheryl Larson DAkin at the airport…she flew in
from TX…we all loaded up in the rental car and drove to Colette
Hosmer’s in Santa Fe. Needless to say, we had a great time. We had a
wonderful surprise and got to enjoy lunch with Gen (Ret)Brad Hosmer
and his lovely wife, as we joined them for lunch at a great little
Mexican restaurant…the conversation was flowing and we so enjoyed
their company. Some of you may remember that Brad was the the Gen at
the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs for a time. He is the son of
Clark Hosmer, brother of Bob (Nancy and Colette’s dad)….We were also
joined by COlette’s beautiful daughter, Samantha (Sam). The rest of
the trip, including the conference was great. Cheryl and I saw much
of Santa Fe and even more of Albuquerque by default since we kept
making wrong turns….we ended up in some pretty strange places but
made the most of it…even traveled down the famous Route 66. We went
30 miles out of our way since we turned left instead of right…we
didn’t know that our exit was just one mile down the road had we
turned the right direction..we had a great adventure just the same. I
will leave it to Cheryl to post some photos…by the way, we also
spent time with some delightful friends of Colette’s, Scott, her son
and her grandson Tien…didn’t want to go home….
Dick and Brenda,
Nancy and Keith loved the concert…wish we could have gone!
Diane
There is a short story about my dad, Don Johnson, that has to do
with his farming and teaching. One fall in the mid ’70s, Dad was up
north about a mile swathing grain one Saturday afternoon. I was working
on the combine in front of the shop when my Mom came running from the
house with this look of panic on her face. I knew something was urgent
by the way she looked. She said, “I just looked at the calender and your
dad is supposed to be in Boissevain directing the band in just over an
hour, so he must have forgotten!” I dropped the wrenches and jumped in
my pickup and tore out to the field. I tried to think of a way to tell
him that wouldn’t make him panic. I drove out to where he was and turned
the pickup around and headed it toward home and left the door open. When
I got to the swather, he kind of knew something was up, so I just
stepped over to the side and said, “Don’t panic, but weren’t you
supposed to be—“. It registered and just as I thought, he hit the
ground running for the pickup, before I finished asking the question!
The dirt flew from the tires and he disappeared in a cloud of dust. I
finished the swathing. When he got home, Mom had his clothes out and
everything ready for a quick bath and he made it in the nick of time and
nobody knew that less than an hour before, he was a farmer and not a
teacher! Over the years we had many similar deals with trying to do two
things at once. When Dad bought Ernest LaCroix’s cows in ’67, we still
lived in town. We had to get up real early and come up to the farm and
pitch on a sleigh rack full of hay in the dark and take it out to the
cattle every morning and then be back home and cleaned up and at the
school by 8 AM. It really used to burn me when kids from the country
would come in off a nice warm bus and say, “You town kids have it made,
we have chores we have to do.” Kiss my–what! Thanks Gary!
Dick