GaryOsberg.com

Good morning from Collegeville,

There was frost on the squash last night. I did not cover the tomatoes, what ever is, is. The neighbor who accepted my invite to plant something in the plot, did cover his tomatoes. I am weary of picking. In every season there is joy.

Thirty-eight years ago today I bid $51,000 on a 32 acre farm with 900 feet of lake shore on the north side of Cedar Lake west of Upsala. I had showed the auction bill to my banker, who knew full well that I only had $750 in a savings account, but he encouraged me to go to the auction anyway. The Farmers State Bank of Upsala was clerking the auction and I had to approach Bud Viehauser before the auction started and get him to agree that if I was high bidder, that I would go to town and get the $3,000 needed for earnest money from a relative. He paused for a minute and then said ok. It may have helped that Bud and my dad were hunting buddies in their youth and they both worked at the bank. Bud stayed on at the bank and my dad moved to the city. Bud ended up owning the bank.

There were only two of us that were serious bidders. The auctioneer painfully milked a bid of $50,500 out of him and then turned to me with “51” and all I did was nod my head. My hand was shaking so much around the styro foam coffee cup, that the coffee was spilling. The other guy spun around on his heels and stormed away. It was reported that he mumbled something about “That crazy city kid”.

The owner, Agnes Olson, had a brother who was handling the deal and so we set up a time to meet in his office in Cambridge to seal the deal. Agnes simply turned the keys over to me and we started checking out the house and the barn and the woodshed and the outhouse. My godfather, Ralph Johnson, walked me around the property since the “crazy city kid” had no idea how far the property ranged. We came to a fence and I said “Wow!” and then he told me that it still went on for another 400 feet. That was the beginning of an era in our family life.

The show this week is a live show from the home field of Public Radio, The Fitzgerald Theater. Plus the traditional Meat Loaf Supper and Street Dance. Special guests include The Derailers and Quebecois legendes Le Vent Du Nord. The Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott and Tom Keith will provide many a memorable skit. There may still be tickets and you can simply show up for the meat loaf and dancing. Garrison and the gang will come out after the show and entertain.

I am on vacation tomorrow, so this is going out early.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Helen Keller (1880-1968)

The rest of the story is that am a recovering entrepreneur and I lost it to the banks. Man does not live by lakeshore alone. I am still glad, every day.

Gary