The lake treated us very well last weekend. There was plenty of sun and very little wind.

This past weekend, Greg and Gage, along with five other guys, went to Canada for the annual guy’s fishing weekend. In the past it has been Greg and a few of his college buddies, but this year, a few young guys were invited along, including Gage. Typically when the boys head off to Canada, my friend Yvette and I, along with our kids, get together for a weekend of fun, also. We’ve gone camping at Icelandic State Park several times, we’ve gathered at Yvette’s because she has a pool, and one time I headed to Medora while Yvette went north to Winnipeg. This year, the plan was to head to our friend, Allison’s, lake place south of Detroit Lakes. When we planned it several months ago, it seemed like a good idea because a weekend at the lake is always a good idea. As the weekend got closer, I started getting a little stressed out. I was feeling pulled in a few different directions, and I was also tired of being gone. I decided to stay home, which is typically not my nature. I definitely get FOMO (fear of missing out) most of the time when I cancel fun plans. Lately - probably another item to blame on old age - I have been experiencing JOMO (joy of missing out).

The Fourth of July at our lake place is a lot quieter since our neighbors Bob and Lainey Toso sold their place a few years ago. The Tosos are former educators, Bob being the former school superintendent in Jamestown and Lainey, a teacher in Valley City. Bob and Lainey were the official fireworks committee for our little lake neighborhood. A bunch of us would slip Bob a few bucks a weekend or two before the Fourth and he would go shopping for top quality pyrotechnics. At dusk on the Fourth, we’d jump in the boat, motor out into the middle of the lake and watch as Bob would fire off a volley of fireworks. As he would reload, someone on the other side of the lake would launch a display followed by other lake neighborhoods taking their turns - each trying to one up the previous display. The air would smell of gunpowder and occasionally the burned up debris would land on us. Good times! This year the Fourth at the lake was a yawner as the thunderstorms put a damper on things. When I first came to North Dakota in 1983, I was amazed to learn that fireworks were so easy to purchase. In my home state of Massachusetts, fireworks were and still are illegal to possess. It only makes sense because the state is so thickly settled. Think about it - you can’t have a million people setting off fireworks, as it would be total chaos for the fire departments and emergency rooms. Instead, cities and towns host big fireworks shows that are professionally produced, many shows costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Yay! It’s happening! Our street is getting paved as I type this. It’s very exciting! My knees and hips are looking forward to walking on streets sans three-foot-wide potholes and football sized chunks of pavement hindering the way. It’s quite the process to get to the point of paving, as the whole west half of the town knows. I don’t understand it, but I’m glad someone does. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to weave my way around the library to get to the school or have to worry about getting blocked in three times in an hour. Thankfully the workers are patient and considerate and notice when someone is stuck in their driveway. I had 3 trucks back up and a guy in a Bobcat quickly build me a little ramp off the edge of my driveway when he noticed that I couldn’t leave and was sitting in my driveway wondering which neighbor wouldn’t mind tire tracks in their yard. Another time I had moved my vehicle twice and was taking up space on my friend’s driveway one street over when I tried to leave and noticed cones on both ends of the street. Again I stopped, contemplating my next move, when a guy in a work pickup ran over, moved a few cones and waved me through.

If you’re not on my Facebook page, let me tell you about some fun we had last week. First, let’s see how good your memory is.

What a wonderful Fourth of July weekend it was for me! As you may have already read in Diane’s column, we had a celebrity couple visit Langdon. I got a text on Thursday from Diane “The Langdons are here! Come to Sip!” So I put on real pants and got my butt over to Sip Happens.

I hope you all enjoyed the first go-round of “The Missing Finger” game. I personally found it extremely challenging and quite the brain teaser! After about an hour of scouring the pages, I finally gave up and cleaned the litter boxes, which is a task both disgusting and satisfying. This was a more pressing issue than finding the finger since Ella had discovered a cat had peed on a blanket on the downstairs couch. This rarely happens and is their way of saying “hey loser humans, the litter boxes are full, you need to clean them, here’s a treat for you, don’t let it happen again,” and they either pee on something or leave a few turds on full display on a rug in the living room. We had been gone for almost a week, and I couldn’t remember if anyone (me) had cleaned the litter boxes before we left. I guess I had it coming. Cats can really be assholes though, so it could have been a “just because” too.

Happy Independence Day to all! Congratulations on making it through the first half of 2025! I hope you’re starting July with a bang and doing something special for your July 4th celebration. As I write this, I’m hopeful for a change in the weekend forecast so we can have a few days at the lake doing what we love – boating, fishing, playing, eating and napping in the sunshine.

Insley Evans is someone whose name folks in the Langdon area may remember. Insley checks all the boxes when it comes to being labeled as ‘shady.’ Professionally, Insley lists his occupation as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. He has worked in a number of hospitals across the country, including locally. But waitthere’s more! His work as a scientist is just the tip of the iceberg! We did some digging because that’s what folks in the news business do. It turns out Insley is also the CEO of a company called Khameleon Inc. A little detective work shows the name Khameleon is that of a fictional character in the Nintedo game Mortal Kombat. It’s pure speculation on my part, but I think he really means to use the word ‘chameleon’ which is a lizard that can change its color to camouflage itself.

It’s been another busy summer week for me! I kicked off the weekend by going wedding shopping with Rebecca on Friday, so off to the big city we went. We spent the day in Grand Forks, and I think we made a lot of progress! She’s getting down to crunch time, and I’m honored to be able to help where I can. I know how hard planning a wedding is, and you couldn’t pay me to ever plan another one for myself!