The Tale of Andy Lumper

Here's the answer to - "Do the cats shed?" I swept this area 3 days ago.

Target had some rubber floor maps on sale so I bought them to use for blocking sweaters, etc. Yesterday I tried putting a few of them together to see what they looked like and ran into the kitchen to take out the muffins. When I got back the mats were a bit busy.....

The Tale of Andy Lumper

Andy came from the wide prairies of South Dakota. He grew up where the deer and the antelope play. He grew up calling the buffalo his friends.

Andy is a man's man. He's a cowboy of the highest calling - to travel the world and bring comfort where it is needed.

I first met Andy in the fall of 2004. Laurie and I decided to drive across the prairie of South Dakota and visit the Black Hills area. When we got there the plan was to scope out the area and figure out what our schedule would be for the next few days. I also heard about a quilt shop in the hills we wanted to go looking for. (This was during my 'gotta make every quilt in sight' phase) As we came around a corner we spotted the quilt shop/Christmas shop up a bit on the hill and just past it was a wine shop. As I drove I babbled about where we could go. Not a real big surprise- one of the things that made Laurie and I such good friends was I liked to talk - she liked to listen. As we rounded the next bend and a lumber yard came into view I was babbling - "and we can go to the quilt shop and we can go to the wine shop and we can always go to the lumber yard."

"Andy Lumper?"
"What?"
"Andy Lumper. You want to go see Andy Lumper?"
"NO! AND THE LUM-BER YARD."
"Oh, Andy Lumper works at the lumber yard. What else does he do?"

Did I mention Laurie and I also have bizarre sense of humor? This conversation went on for about an hour. We decided Andy's whole life. He was a cowboy that lived in the area and worked in the lumber yard to help out a friend. Lived by the buffalo trail. Eventually we left that conversation and started a new equally strange one.

The next day we stopped at a gift shop near the buffalo trail to get some water and I spotted him. Andy was sitting there just waiting for me to bring him along on our adventure.

He joined us along with a dozen Custer National Park pens to give to our employees as gifts and bottled water. That afternoon Laurie got a phone call and there had been a death in the family so we had to go home early. Little did we know this would be our last trip together before she died.

Over the next year Andy lived at my desk at work. He and I had several conversations about Laurie and he watched me shed more than a few tears. Andy came to live at the house when I moved work locations. But time heals the sorrow and the joy and fun return. Andy helped me remember the fun we had on that trip and other trips. He reminded me of the silly stories Laurie and I told him in South Dakota and let me tell him about our childhood together. Andy has met Laurie's boys (the godkid and his bro).

Andy talked things over with Chief and they agree. .....Time to travel again. Andy says he will go where Laurie would have. I've promised to show him the Twin Cities this summer and he wants me to share his journeys with you.

Game on - it's time to play tourist in my own home town!