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Looking forward to ‘St. Anne’s Week’

St. Anne's Week
Last year’s Sports Day

Soon we’ll be kicking off our annual week of festivities in celebration of our patron saint, that is St. Anne, the mother of Mary and Jesus’ grandmother!

I say “kicking off’ because the dress up theme for the start of the week is ‘Sports Day.’  Each day will have a dress up theme, an act of kindness, and a trivia question.  Prizes will be awarded, probably at our celebration day on Monday, July 27.

So if you stop by St. Anne’s and notice people being especially kind, or dressed kind of goofy, you’ll know why.  If you plan ahead, you can even take part yourself – take a look in your closet.

The schedule is as follows:
Monday, July 20 ~ Sports Day
Tuesday, July 21 ~ Western Day
Wednesday, July 22 ~ Wacky Hair / Hat Day
Thursday, July 23 ~ Miss-Match Day
Friday, July 24 ~ Bedtime Day
Wear blue for St. Anne’s
Saturday, July 25 ~ Patriotic (Red, White & Blue) Day
Sunday, July 26 ~ Dress-up Day
Monday, July 27 ~ Wear blue for St. Anne’s

“Street Dance” ~ Sunday, July 26 ~ 7 p.m.
Our residents will be invited to gather on our patio for some music

St. Anne’s Day Party ~ Monday, July 27 – 2 p.m.

We’re looking forward to a fun week!

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A fine specimen of….what?

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Guest Post by former Activities Assistant, Ben Heit

So something needs to be brought to light: one can not get trumpet valve oil analyzed at the Grand Forks Clinic! It was a quite day at St. Anne’s Guest home and the Activity Department was gearing up for the next big party! In the mean time, I was called to the front office by one of the nurses on duty. “Ben,” they asked, “Could you take a urine sample over to the GF Clinic for us?”

Well, I was a new employee, and I was eager to help out in any way. I said “Sure, where is it?” It was at the front desk waiting for me. At the main desk, I asked the receptionist if she had the sample and she said, “Oh this must be it.” She had a baggy with a bottle in it, kind of dirty and not really marked. I, being new, I didn’t really know better!

So, off I went to the clinic with the my “Urine Sample.” I arrived at the clinic and approached the lab desk, announcing to them who I was and what I had for them (very proudly). They looked at me like I was crazy and said “What…is…that?” Dirty bag, oily bag, no name, no bio-hazard markings…and I think it might have had musical notes on it. Right, I should have caught THAT! I apologized and started my trek back to St. Anne’s thinking, “Hmmmmm, is it ‘Play-a-trick-on-the-new employee Day’?” I marched into the Nurse’s office and asked the nurse on duty…What is this???? She looked at me and said, “I have no idea, but the urine sample is in the fridge!??

Right at that moment, Sr. Elaine, with a puzzled look on her face, just happened to look in; all she saw was me and the bag I was holding. Her eyes were locked on the oily bag in my hand, like a spot light in the theater and all she said was “THERE IS MY TRUMPET OIL!”- pretty much like she hadn’t seen it in years!!! I am glad I could reunite her with her much-treasured, almost analyzed valve oil!

How it all happened, as she described later, is that she set it down in the office; she left, and I came in grabbed it… and off I went, she came back just a few seconds later and, hmmm, valve oil is now gone!!

I want to say the trumpet vavle oil never looked healthier!! We laughed about this for many, many years and it was one of the great moments of working at St. Anne’s!

Editor’s Note: When sending birthday greetings to Sr. Elaine, he made reference to this comical event, which I then asked him to re-tell on “The St. Anne’s Scoop.”

 

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Happy 75th Birthday, Sister Elaine Marie!

I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow is a special day here – Sr. Elaine Marie Roggenbuck, who has been serving at St. Anne’s for over 40 years is celebrating her 75th birthday!  If you’d like to send birthday greetings or a promise of prayer, I will gladly pass those on to her.

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A first time for everything…lessons learned after an encounter with a wasp

One hears of “occupational hazards,” but Saturday morning I faced peril even before arriving at work at St. Anne’s. I opened the door to leave the garage when suddenly, a little wasp flew by me and gave me the first sting of my life. I can no longer say that I’ve never been stung by a bee/wasp.

At supper last evening, we were trying to figure out the difference in terminology between bees, wasps, yellow-jackets and hornets.  From consulting a dictionary, we learned that “wasp” is actually kind of an umbrella term that covers various classifications of these undesired insects.

Despite the fear and discomfort these little creatures can impose, did you know that they can be good for farmers? According to EasyScienceforKids, they are good at ridding us of “grasshoppers, aphids, flies, other bees” and catipillars; they are predators of those insects that can destroy crops. However, this article goes on to explain that some of them also eat human food, as well as nector, tree sap and fruit.

As I recover from my sting, which was much more minor than horror stories I’ve heard in the past, I’d like to share some other interesting facts about these creatures that had built a nest on our garage.

They live on every continent except Antarctica. Contrary to what people might think, these critters can sting multiple times. They can make their nests out of paper or chewed up bark. Basements, sheds, and other cool, dark places are possible nest locations.

EasyScienceforKids supplies us with yet more information about these uninvited guests, whose habitation our maintenance man removed this morning. The queen of the domain starts a new colony each spring.

An article covering “Interesting And Fun Facts About Wasps” gives more fascinating tidbits.

There are more than 100,000 different species of wasps in the world. Unlike bees, which have a hairier boy, wasps have narrow waists and look shiny. Also, unlike bees, their stinger remains intact so they can sting multiple times rather than becoming embedded in your skin. I was surprised to learn, though, that they only live about 12-22 days.

Another interesting fact about wasps is that the female is the one with a stinger is the egg-laying organ. Contrary to what one might think, therefore, the female is the protector and guardian of the nest from danger. By summer, the queen’s colony has more than 5,000 subjects. Some species of wasps are categorized as social while others are solitary.

The University of Minnesota’s Extension service also offers a lot of good information.

By Sr. Christina M. Neumann

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Just a spoonful of sugar…making the humdrum enjoyable

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By Sr. Christina M. Neumann

Last week,  I made a couple of rhubarb coffee cakes for people to enjoy after Sunday Mass.  I’ve also made a couple of batches of rhubarb sauce recently for our residents to enjoy.  One thing I’ve learned about rhubarb is that it needs sugar.  In fact, I wished I had pre-soaked the rhubarb in sugar before I made the cakes last Monday morning at 2 a.m. (I was working the night shift.)  This lesson about a little sugar making the whole batch better is a good analogy for life as well.

Yesterday, we were cutting up yet another batch of donated rhubarb (two big bags this time).  Doing this isn’t the most exciting activity.  However, during our “rhubarb parties” at St. Anne’s, we’ve learned to “sugar-coat” what could otherwise be a little bit of a sour job; we end up joking and even sometimes singing while we work.  Yesterday, we sang “I’ve been working on the rhubarb All the live-long day.”

Another way that humor (unintentionally) helped “the medicine go down” yesterday came about when one of our ladies kept trying to throw her pieces of rhubarb into the bowl.  It was kind of far away, and she didn’t make it into her target.  I kept telling her to stop throwing it, and that I would take the pieces for her.  However, she would not stop throwing them.  In frustrated fun, I took a big piece of rhubarb (resembling a plank or a bat) and swung it a little, telling her to knock it off or face the consequences (jokingly, of course).

If we didn’t have a little humor in life, things would certainly be boring.  Our slogan, “It’s great to be alive at St. Anne’s” is true, in part, because of the fact that we are not afraid to incorporate humor into the humdrum things of life.  Just as “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” (or the rhubarb taste better), so a little bit of good-natured humor and positive attitude sweetens all of life for us.

Today, let’s give thanks for the gift of humor and use it wisely!

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A Thank You to our “Fathers” for Fathers’ Day

from our 60th Anniversary Celebration
from our 60th Anniversary Celebration in 2012

Here at St. Anne’s, a lot of our men are not biological fathers.  Therefore, our activities staff have taken to celebrating “Men’s Day” the week after the annual Fathers’ Day observance.  This is a way of honoring the men who live here, regardless of their role in life (be they fathers or not).

I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank some other men, who, while they also lack the title of “Dad,” are affectionately, gratefully, and respectfully referred to as “Father”- and with good reason. We are very grateful for our priests who have served us over the years.

I won’t attempt to name all of them here; there have been many who have come to offer Mass for us; the service of priests to St. Anne’s dates back to when the Home was located at the former location by the river.  I would guess it even dates back to the time when St. Anne’s was in Fargo.

I could not, however, fail to mention Fr. Gerald Potter, whose link with our Sisters dates back to his school days at St. John’s in Collegeville, MN.  He was a waiter there as a student and worked with our sisters who ran the kitchen there.  In later years, he offered Mass at St. Anne’s innumerable times before coming to reside here.

Also, I’d like to thank our priests from St. Michael’s parish (past and present) who have come to offer Mass atSt. Anne’s (both the current and the former locations).  I am very grateful to Fr. Braun, Fr. King, and Fr. Haman for offering Mass here every Tuesday, and on other occasions as needed (as well as Fr. Pfeifer when he was here) .

We very much appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness of our priests.  It has been very, very seldom (during my six years here) that we have not had daily Mass offered in our Chapel.  Thank you for helping to look after “our little flock.”  A special thanks goes out to Msgr. Vetter and Fr. Bernie Schneider for also making a commitment to us more than once a week!  Fr. Ed Sherman and Fr. William Callery also deserve a special word of thanks for so often filling in.

I’d like to thank all of our priests as we celebrate Fathers’ Day.

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From “I – Scream” to Cherry Su-preme

As you may know, we had our annual pie & cake ice cream social yesterday afternoon.  I think people had a good time and enjoyed their desserts.

In the past, sometimes the ice cream has gotten rather soft by the time our servers got toward the bottom of the pail.  Rather than toss the “soupy” stuff (or try to re-freeze it and hope it isn’t too crystallized), I’ve been known to make “cherry supreme.”  This is a family favorite recipe we enjoyed as kids.  You make a crumbly crust and serve the dessert with hot cherry pie filling (see recipe below).  Shelly (our Activity Director) was too efficient this year and got the ice cream back in the freezer.

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Next time your vanilla ice cream gets a little soft, you might want to try out “cherry supreme” – it might become a family favorite of your own.

Cherry Supreme
(9 servings)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream (softened)

Heat oven to 400.  Mix butter, sugar, flour, and pecans.  Press evenly in bottom of un-greased baking pan – 9X9X2.  Bake until light brown (about 12 minutes). Crumble with spoon.  Cool.  Reserve 1 cup of the crumbs, press remaining crumbs evenly in bottom of pan.  Pack ice cream on crust.  Sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top and refreeze for at least 4 hours.  Just before serving, heat a 21-oz. can cherry pie filling and serve ice cream dessert with hot cherries on top.

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Beans, potatoes, carrots, and self-esteem…growing in our little garden at St. Anne’s

vegetable garden

This past week, we planted a little vegetable garden in a soil-filled bathtub on our west patio. But did you know that gardening is actually considered “moderate cardiovascular exercise” by the CDC, according to one online article. It burns calories (200-300 per hour) and doing so several times a week can be a good way to fight obesity, according to this same source.

They also noted that, according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, “gardening can benefit people who are recovering from physical illness by retraining their muscles and improving coordination and strength.” Gardening is also good in that it causes you to stretch and move around. It is a form of exercise which is easier for people with certain health challenges that make more strenuous exercise not practical, according to the below-mentioned CNN article.
However, nextavenue.org suggests that one change body positioning frequently to avoid “overusing or overburdening any one area of the body.” Proper bending technique (using the knees rather than the waist) is also recommended to avoid problems.
According to care2.com, gardening can increase your muscular volume and strength., An article by CNN cited some less tangible benefits of “getting down in the dirt,” including stress relief, fighting depression, and possibly even decreasing risk of dementia. They say that a bacteria found in soil can increase serotonin in the brain.
I started gardening with our residents last spring as a fun activity for them to enjoy. I don’t expect much of a vegetable yield from such a small space, but I do hope it yields the fruit of improved mood and a sense of accomplishment.
Posted on

Beans, potatoes, carrots, and self-esteem…growing in our little garden at St. Anne’s

This past week, we planted a little vegetable garden in a soil-filled bathtub on our west patio. But did you know that gardening is actually considered “moderate cardiovascular exercise” by the CDC, according to one online article. It burns calories (200-300 per hour) and doing so several times a week can be a good way to fight obesity, according to this same source. They also noted that, according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, “gardening can benefit people who are recovering from physical illness by retraining their muscles and improving coordination and strength.” Gardening is also good in that it causes you to stretch and move around. It is a form of exercise which is easier for people with certain health challenges that make more strenuous exercise not practical, according to the below-mentioned CNN article. However, nextavenue.org suggests that one change body positioning frequently to avoid “overusing or overburdening any one area of the body.” Proper bending technique (using the knees rather than the waist) is also recommended to avoid problems. According to care2.com, gardening can increase your muscular volume and strength. An article by CNN cited some less tangible benefits of “getting down in the dirt,” including stress relief, fighting depression, and possibly even decreasing risk of dementia. They say that a bacteria found in soil can increase serotonin in the brain. I started gardening with our residents last spring as a fun activity for them to enjoy. I don’t expect much of a vegetable yield from such a small space, but I do hope it yields the fruit of improved mood and a sense of accomplishment.