When Kip and I were driving the 20 miles from our campsite to the entrance of Yellowstone National Park, I was telling him that Grandpa Sanderson took my brother, Billy, on a trip to Yellowstone when he was 8 years old. That led me to begin thinking about all the things Grandpa did for his grandchildren.

When I was in high school, he drove me all the way from Murdo to Vermillion, SD, which was almost day’s trip, so I could attend music camp.

One day, when I was out with him fishing in his boat, he gave me a really nice jack knife. I have no idea what happened to it. I lost it somewhere along the line. He gave Billy a knife, too. The next time they were out fishing, Grandpa asked Billy where his knife was. Billy said he left it at home. Grandpa said he guessed it wouldn’t get lost that way.

That day, when Kip and I were on the way to the park, I silently thanked Grandpa for all the things he had done for me while I was growing up. I said, “Grandpa, I hope you can hear my thanks. If you can, please give me some sort of a sign.”

We had a wonderful morning seeing the sites at Yellowstone. While we were sitting at a picnic table eating lunch, Kip looked up and saw a lady walking by. She had a T shirt on that said, “Sanderson Witch Museum.” I was flabbergasted, and I took it as a sign that Grandpa Sanderson had heard my message. I am certain he didn’t believe in witches, but he would have known that seeing the Sanderson name would have gotten my attention.

By the way, the Sanderson Witch Museum displays a history of the Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials. Three Sanderson sisters, no relation to me, were among the accused. I do have a connection to another Salem witch. She was my grandmother several times removed. Her name was Suzanna North, and she was one of the 19 who were hanged. My cousin Bobby Haverberg discovered our link to her when he was researching the Sanderson family ancestry.

In any case, I had a very special grandpa, and I hope he truly felt appreciated.

By Valerie Halla

THIS BEAR HAS NOTHING ON ME. PRETTY SURE I CAN OUTSMART HIM!

There’s a great store nearby that’s called The Outside In and I can identify with that name. I’m not sure what that refers to but maybe it means you can bring outside things like fresh air, plants or beautiful flowers from the outside indoors. I’m thinking of other things though. Have you ever worn anything inside out or backwards or upside down? I’ve done it without even realizing that I had goofed.

Once I went to work with my blouse on inside out. It was buttoned so I just slipped it over my head and off I went, except with an inside out blouse. Maybe you have tried that also or maybe you weren’t as tired and bleary eyed as I was. Having three little kids and trying to get them ready for school and out the door at the same time I was going to work, made mornings hectic not to mention crazy, with a capital K.

A nice friend and coworker mentioned my inside out blouse later that day and sure enough, I looked down and the seams were showing on the outside and even though I was comfortable, the blouse just didn’t look right. This was probably on a Monday since Mondays can be pretty tough when you have had a great weekend watching tv, staying up late, sleeping in, and just trying to do all the chores and kids’ stuff in two measly days. It’s insane insanity with a capital E.

I didn’t learn my lesson though. A few months later, I went to work with my earrings on backwards. Another loyal friend and teacher mentioned that my earrings were on backwards. I quickly fixed them and no harm was done except to my modesty. The earrings actually looked good either way. No one cared.

Turns out I did not change even into my 70ish years. You would think getting wiser follows along with getting older. No, that logic doesn’t work for me all the time. I think that I started out a few cards short of a full deck into my 30ish years, then I was always a bit behind mentally, with a capital B. The other night I was so tired that I slept all night with my pajamas on inside out. Sheesh. I still slept fine.

I DO NOT KNOW WHY ANY DOGGIE WOULD WEAR EARRINGS. THESE HUMANS ARE WHACKY. PLUS I NEVER WEAR MY FUR COAT BACKWARDS.

SHE DOES LOOK PRETTY SILLY!

INSIDE OUT? NOOO, MY EARS ALWAYS LOOK LIKE THIS.

I remember my cousin made some inside out and upside down Halloween costume a while ago and she even did a video with instructions on how to make that weirdly unique outfit. I’m not sure it caught on but she thought it was a winner in the world of Halloween originality. The pants were the top and the top was the pants part. She can probably revive her idea for her upside down backwards costume if we ask her. Maybe I will ask her with compliments first, a lemon bar offering and suggest nicely that she should redo her costume idea. She’s always ready to share her expertise with a capital X.

EVERY PART OF ME IS BALANCED AND CORRECTLY ALIGNED! I HAVE HAD LOTS OF YOGA OBVIOUSLY.

We have been at a KOA near the park for 2 days and will be staying another 2. We’re trying to reach the place that is going to be doing all the repairs on the RV to see if we can get it in before the 30th. It would sure be nice if we didn’t have to wait that long. Since we’ll be staying at a motel while the work is being done, we would like to get that part behind us.

We really enjoyed our full day at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They are adjacent to each other, so that made it nice. We were able to see Sherman’s tree, which is the largest Sequoia. It’s at Sequoia NP, and Grant’s tree, which is the 2nd largest, is at King’s Canyon. There is also a tree at King’s Canyon, which is 3000 years old. It’s big, but not as big as the other 2 trees. These giant spectacles have all survived 100s of forest fires. They even have big burn scars.

Counting the coastal redwoods, we have seen a lot of magnificent trees in the past 2 weeks. It has been an awesome experience.

By Valerie Halla

GOOFUPS KNOW NO AGE

We have all heard the saying, “I thought I made a mistake one time, but I was mistaken” and I often berate myself for being careless and making silly mistakes now that I’m older, but then I think back. When I was younger and teaching elementary school, often the days would be tiring and stressful. We teachers would be working hard and looking forward to a vacation or the weekend. The job of teachers is physically and mentally tough. One morning I had picked up my brightly colored attendance folder in the office and as usual was about to take roll call and hot lunch count but I couldn’t find my folder. As my students got their backpacks, sweaters and other items settled and were taking their seats, I got their attention with my normal signal and asked, “Has anyone seen my bright yellow attendance folder?”

One helpful yet outspoken young third grader said, “Teacher, it’s tucked under your arm there.”

Sure enough, not wanting to misplace the folder, I had put it under my armpit as to free up my hands for collecting homework, notes and announcements that came my way. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I thanked my kind student and acknowledged my small mistake overlooking it quickly and moved on. After all, we all make mistakes, even teachers and setting an example in front of the 30 youngsters that we learn from our mistakes but we forgive and forget and forge on was a valuable lesson

Another teacher told me she had goofed now and then also and sometimes you are just tired and get careless. She was getting her first grade students ready to go home and lining up bussers, walkers and those who stayed after school for daycare into different lines. She was rushing and picked up a sweater she had found haphazardly. “Class, whose sweater is this?” she chimed in her loud friendly voice.

A little boy’s voice softly told her as he got closer, “Uhhh, Mrs. Smith, that’s your sweater.” She felt silly but brushed it off saying “thank you” to him.

Mistakes happen and they don’t just happen to old folks even though we aren’t as sharp as we used to be. A good thing to do is just acknowledge your errors and move forward.

MISS CRABAPPLE

Another teacher and I had a deal to timeout any students in each other’s class, if any were repeatedly misbehaving. We would send over a note with the student and have that kid sit by us at an extra timeout desk we had set up for a period of time. This teacher and I also liked the old “Little Rascal’s” movies, especially the ones with the adorable kind young teacher they had ironically named “Miss Crabapple” or “Crabby”. She was far from being crabby which made it all the funnier. We even took up the habit of calling one another “Crabby”. As we passed in the office or went by taking our class to PE or recess we would yell out, “Hey, Crabby!” to one another.

One day I was absent and a crotchety older teacher who had retired was subbing for me unbeknownst to my teacher friend. This older retired teacher had a reputation for being strict and grumpy in the 30 years she had taught. My teacher friend sent over a student of hers for a timeout with a note that explained, “Crabby- please timeout Devon for 15 minutes. Thanks.”

When I returned the next day my friend had found out that the “Crabby” note had gone to the grumpy old substitute teacher and told me about it. We both had a laugh but also felt badly for the sub. The older sub lady had never said anything about the note so maybe she had shrugged it off or understood my friend hadn’t been calling her a crabby teacher but meant the note for me.

AN ENDURING FUNNY MISTAKE

Over twenty years later we still laugh about the mistake with the Crabby note going to the wrong person and now that I am retired, I often go visit school where I taught and did testing for over 30 years. My friend, who is much younger than me, sees me across campus sometimes and yells out, “Hi, Crabby!” and I yell back, “Hey, Crabby!” We still like the old story about the day I wasn’t at school and we still like the Little Rascals.

THE STRANGER WHO SHOWS UP ON HALLOWEEN

By Baba Wawa

THERE IS A STRANGER IN OUR MIDST!

Rarely do I see people I want to interview twice. As a famous celebrity reporter who has interviewed or tried to interview Taylor Swiffer, Kim Karcrashing, and others, I was intrigued by this character as I strolled down the lovely streets recently, of our small town, the fall wind foreboding an eerie encounter soon to unfold.

Pumpkins, colorful gourds, fake giant spiders in glittery webs, and various Halloween holiday decorations popping up in yards as I slowly made my way through town, the snap, crackle, pop of fall leaves sounding underfoot as I walked along. (Geez, suddenly I craved some Rice Krispies with cold milk! Wouldn’t that taste good about now?)

~Baba, do not get distracted. See if you can sneak up on that tall, mysterious, gangly stranger back there and get a quick interview.~

THE FALL WIND DID A NUMBER ON MY HAIR FORBODING AN EERIE ENCOUNTER TO COME.

I AM NOT ENTERING EVEN IF YOU DARE ME!

SPARSE BUT CUTE DECORATION.

I PREFER THIS TYPE OF WINDOW DECOR.

I’M HEADED OVER TO MEET THE TALL DARK STRANGER!

I got my short interview with the mysterious stranger but he is still not talking. He’s pretty stubborn. Maybe I will try again next year. He is the tall slim quiet type. I’m usually not shy but this guy kinda creeped me out. I need some Rice Krispies to help revive me.

My genius husband figured out the problem with the leveling jacks and the generator. We are good to go. It was an obscure and funny looking breaker that was tripped. Thankfully, no repairman will be needed because everyone is super busy, and nothing was going to happen today.

Good things did happen today, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Thanks for your friendship and all your supportive words. We learned a lot from this experience. I have no patience, and Kip is tenacious.

We’ve already paid for this spot for tonight, but tomorrow, we will head towards our next destination…Yosemite National Park! Let the good times continue.