Articles

ANN BAILEY: Late spring means playing catch up with chores

When winter runs into spring and then the rains set in as soon as the snow stops falling, it’s challenging to get any outdoors work done

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Staying positive when you’re all wet

Here we go again. Our farm, like many others, has been inundated with rain the past few weeks. And after a short respite from having water in the basement, we have a wet floor, even with a couple of sump pumps running.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: A journey with cancer

Five years ago today, my then-5-year-old daughter, Ellen, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and my life was forever changed.

• Ann Bailey
• Ellen Gregoire, Ann Bailey's daughter, on the set of the movie "Air Buddies"
• Ellen and Rosebud today

ANN BAILEY: Better the mud than the snow

As May comes to an end, and, by the calendar, we are only a little more than a month from the official start of summer, winter finally is over at our house.

• Ann Bailey

Grand Forks mother sees last of 6 children graduate

After nearly a quarter century of having children in school May 26 marked the end of an era for Cindy Peterson.

• Cindy Peterson with her youngest daughter Brenna
• Graduation weekend in Grand Forks

ANN BAILEY: The humiliation of dogs

Though my children were energetic little people, they were pretty well-behaved when we went out to eat, take in a movie or to attend church, saving me the public humiliation.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Pie is no piece of cake

Along with my regular day-to-day duties at Good Samaritan Society — Larimore, I help with a variety of events that the center holds. I enjoy the people I’m working with, get to visit with the people who attend the events and help serve — and eat — good food so it’s definitely one of the perks of my job.

• Ann Bailey

GF woman pens e-books about cooking, growing up in small-town N.D.

Mary Ann Gadberry knows you really can go home again. The Grand Forks woman has written an e-book with a title that says just that.

• Mary Ann Gadberry
• Mary Ann Gadberry kisses her mother, Clarse, in 1958
• Mary Ann's sister, Lois, serves her a spoonful of medicine in 1960
• Mary Ann and her sister, Rita Grammond, snuggle kittens in 1963
• “Home Again for Fall and Winter,” by Mary Ann Gadberry.

ANN BAILEY: Spring has sprung

Just two weeks after I wrote a column bemoaning the cold, snowy weather, spring sprang in a big way.

• Ann Bailey

Ragstock offers new spin on thrift store in Grand Forks

From turtle necks to metallic pants to lacey tank tops, the merchandise at Ragstock in Grand Forks is guaranteed to grab shoppers’ attention. So does the vintage decor, featuring vinyl records, footlockers and laminate coffee tables.

• Michael Cannata is the manager of Ragstock
• Ragstock opened recently in the Columbia Mall
• Ragstock manager Michael Cannata sorts a rack of gently worn shirts

Columns

ANN BAILEY: An egg-onizing discovery

I usually feel kind of bad about not having two or three dozen eggs in my fridge. But after what happened on a recent Sunday, it seems like a good time to take a break from eggs.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Getting ready for winter

Thanks to a warm-up in temperatures, a week after ice thwarted our attempts to clean the leaves out of our eaves troughs, Brian and I got the job done. After we got home from work on the Thursday before Veterans Day, we leaned ladders to the sides of our house and dug matted leaves out of the eaves.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Counting blessings for Thanksgiving

This Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. Sandwiched in-between Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving in the modern day doesn’t get much attention.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Well traveled, if only in North Dakota

Given a choice, I like to stick pretty close to home. Our farm is my retreat from the hectic world, and I love to spend as much time there as I can.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: From one outdoor cat to four indoor cats

The first fall we lived on the farm, we often saw a stray sneaking through the woods behind our house. We put food out at the edge of the woods each night, and, after several weeks, we could stand near her while she was eating.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Becoming a fan of a new sport

For much of her life, fall weekends were synonymous with football. But when her boys switched fall sports from football to cross country, Ann finds herself appreciating their new sport, too.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Saying goodbye to old friends

By far the most challenging part of horse ownership is saying goodbye to the horses when they die. Over the years, my family and I have buried eight horses. All of them lived well into the 20s and beyond, which I think makes it harder, not easier to lose them.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Admiration grows for nursing home

Three years ago this December, my mom, Marcia, moved from the farm near Larimore, N.D., where she had lived for 60 years, into an assisted living apartment at the Good Samaritan Society in Larimore.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: This farm has a garden spot

Surrounded by trees on three sides and located on the south side of our farmstead, in warm summers our garden spot is like a greenhouse. While working in it on summer days is a hot, sweaty job, the rewards we reap later make it well worth it.

• Ann Bailey

ANN BAILEY: Back in the saddle

If someone asked me if I was a “dog person” or “cat person,” I’d have to say a “dog person.” However, dogs still come in second to horses. I started riding by myself when I was five and 48 years later, I love being on horseback as much now as I did then.

• Ann Bailey