Becoming an Influencer

Those of you who have read our blog for a while know that Dino and I go back and forth ripping on each other. Those of you who are new to our blog, be prepared to be a ghast that I would do this to a seemingly innocent person. Believe me, Dino is far from innocent, in fact, he is usually the instigator while I am an innocent victim just trying to defend myself. We both have pretty thick skin, and he deserves everything I give him. So, without further ado.... I present you another Dino tale. 

It's all the rage you know. Becoming an influencer.

Who knew that I would become an influencer at least to one person, influencing and motivating the uninspired. Case in point. Apparently, Dino, author of MN Drifters was so touched by my exposé on Wordle, that it inspired him to write an entire blog!  Before you read any further, go read his blog. It will give you more context going forward. 

Let me tell you, this is no easy feat given he has not one, but two grossly disfigured arthritic hands. I would post a picture of them here to show you just how grotesque they are, but I know some of you are probably eating breakfast and I would not want to spoil your appetite. 

Now, here is a man, who is too busy to comment on a blog, who stops everything he is doing to sit down with pen and paper and start writing. Who I am kidding, Dino cannot hold a pen, he cannot even hold chopsticks. We had the horror of witnessing this firsthand a couple of years ago.  My therapist says it is good for my recovery to write about it so if you are done with your breakfast, you can read about that incident here. 

It was after reading his latest post that I realized that I not only inspired him to write this post, but also inspired him to build his house. I am sure that after reading all our posts about us building our house, he thought. "If Jim and Barb can do it, I can do it". This simple thought (all of Dino's thoughts are simple), resulted in Otter Tail County in Minnesota to rewrite their entire building code to include things no one in their right mind would ever consider in the past. Like, who would ever consider running a pipe straight from their toilet into the Otter Tail River?  Or, they now have a code against using mouse and muskrat pelts as siding on their house. The resulting stench still lingers in the air on hot, humid summer days. 

Dino and I go back years, too many years. 9 years this spring. Since we have some new readers, I thought it might be good for some of you to read about the day we met Dino and Lisa. One would think we would run for the hills after meeting them, but we are gluttons for punishment, it was not until we met up with them in Yellowstone during the fall of 2016 that we finally realized they were in fact aliens simply visiting our little rock. Obviously not very smart aliens as out of the 8.1 billion humans on earth, they chose to take over his body. 

Now that I think about it, we have been inspiring and influencing Dino for years. Let's see....Jim and Barb buy a Cardinal 5th wheel, Dino and Lisa buy a Cardinal 5th wheel, Jim and Barb buy a Lance camper, you guessed it, Dino and Lisa buy a Lance camper. Jim and Barb build a house.....Well, you get the idea.  Or perhaps the aliens are geniuses after all as they chose Barb and I to guide and lead them through life.  Whatever the reason, being an influencer to if only one person, is a burden that I carry. 

Now, for your viewing pleasure, I present you with this adorable video. This is what we deal with every night, x 2 now, with our little visitor. The other night I actually went out and slept on the couch as it seemed like they were having some kind of snore-off competition. 

We continued to send Alana and Ryan pictures each day to let them know Sophie is in good hands. Like this little gem for example. The girls got dirty and needed to be cleaned up so I sent them this picture asking if I should set the washer on delicate or extra soiled. The wash cycle went pretty well, the dry cycle was another story altogether. 

Sophie is usually a Vikings fan (or 9'ers), but when Barb is in charge of the jerseys, all bets are off. Sophie dressed up in a Bronco's jersey for the Vikings/Bronco game. Sadly, her team was victorious. I don't think Alana and Ryan are going to let Sophie come over and play anymore if Barb keeps this up!

Then of course we needed more dress up photo shoots......

I forgot to mention in last week's post that DeAnne made us this awesome table runner. It matches perfectly with Barb's autumn centerpiece. 

Monday, friends Doug and Lisa came over to process a deer. Don't worry, no dead animals in this post, just Barb and Lisa packaging up a few cuts. 

As we were processing the deer, Doug asked me if I wanted to go fishing on Wednesday. "Ah, hell yeah!" We hit the water about 11:00 in search of the ever-elusive lake trout.  We would have invited Barb and Lisa but they both had Thanksgiving prep to do, and heaven forbid we get in the way of that!

Alas, we did not catch any fish, but it was a gorgeous day. Today got up to high of 57, then the bottom fell, and our high today topping out at only 28 and tomorrow is supposed to be 19. Brrrr! 

Today is Thanksgiving, Dan, Bonnie, Kevin and Cheryl are coming over. Food, football and friends, it doesn't get much better than that! We have so much to be thankful for. Each other, our health, our family, our beautiful home, our friends. Especially friends like Dino, who gives me never-ending things to write about.

Wait! I just had another revelation. Dino writing that blog inspired me to write this post. Who is influencing who?!?! God help us all.