RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – DAD

dad

It is Father’s Day today and as always I think of my dad on this day! I was only thirty-five when he died. My dad died when he was sixty-five, relatively young yet. I’m sixty years old now and to think in five years I will be the age my dad was when he died. It has been twenty-five years since he left us. I was present when he had his heart attack at his desk at work. It was the worst day of my life. The images of that day are still engrained into my mind clearly. I don’t know why this is, but when I think of my dad I think of that day he died and left us. When I think of him I should be thinking immediately about what a terrific father he was, but instead my mind takes me to that terrible day, Oct 12th 1993.

So today I choose to think about the dad that loved and cared deeply for his family and friends. His name was Carrell. He provided for his family. Dad started a business with his two brothers in law in 1960. He was very proud of the success of the foundry that they built together. We produced manhole covers that you see in the streets that are all over the country. I worked in the family business for some thirty years.  I saw my dad every day at work. So our relationship was close. We spent a lot of time together.

My earliest memory of my dad is kind of weird. I maybe was 4 or 5 years old. My dad was a smoker and he would lay in his bed smoking and I would lay next to him watching the red glow of his cigarette in the darkness. Liking the smell of the cigarette and waiting for the red glow of the cigarette to appear when he took a puff. I told you it was weird! That was in the early 1960’s when it seemed like everyone smoked. I never have had the desire to smoke cigarettes and I’m thankful for that.

My favorite memory of my dad was the day we were at the cabin on Big Stone Lake in Ortonville. Dad was driving the boat and I was learning to water ski. I was in my early twenties. To make a long story short, I fell in the middle of the lake and could not get back up. After trying and trying I gave up. Meanwhile the ski rope got tangled in the propeller and we had a big mess. I was exhausted and here I was floating in the lake. Dad thought he would slide off the back of the boat to help me get the rope untangled from the propeller. I don’t know what he was thinking, but when he slid off the back of the boat he disappeared under water and never came back up to the surface. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket.  I desperately tried to reach for him under water and finally grabbed his arm pulling him to the surface. He almost drowned.

Now both of us big guys are in the water, and we have no ladder to get back into the boat! We are stranded in the water, in the middle of the lake! My brother Greg saw we were in trouble and took an inner tube and swam out to us. He was able to pull himself into the boat. We got the ski rope untangled and my brother towed dad and me behind the boat to the shore. We were like beached wales, completely exhausted! While lying on the beach we had mom, my wife Roxie and my grandmother hovering over us yelling at the top of their lungs at both of us for being so stupid! Dad and I laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe, we would look at each other laying on the beach and laugh harder.

That is my funniest and best memory I have of my dad. We told that story so many times over the years and each time crying with laughter.  I have many good memories of my dad. I loved him very much. He was a great father to all of us. I rarely saw him get angry, he was always kind to everyone, wanting to help anybody that had a need. Happy Father’s Day dad! Love you!

It is Father’s Day today and as always I think of my dad on this day! I was only thirty-five when he died. My dad died when he was sixty-five, relatively young yet. I’m sixty years old now and to think in five years I will be the age my dad was when he died. It has been twenty-five years since he left us. I was present when he had his heart attack at his desk at work. It was the worst day of my life. The images of that day are still engrained into my mind clearly. I don’t know why this is, but when I think of my dad I think of that day he died and left us. When I think of him I should be thinking immediately about what a terrific father he was, but instead my mind takes me to that terrible day, Oct 12th 1993.

So today I choose to think about the dad that loved and cared deeply for his family and friends. His name was Carrell. He provided for his family. Dad started a business with his two brothers in law in 1960. He was very proud of the success of the foundry that they built together. We produced manhole covers that you see in the streets that are all over the country. I worked in the family business for some thirty years.  I saw my dad every day at work. So our relationship was close. We spent a lot of time together.

My earliest memory of my dad is kind of weird. I maybe was 4 or 5 years old. My dad was a smoker and he would lay in his bed smoking and I would lay next to him watching the red glow of his cigarette in the darkness. Liking the smell of the cigarette and waiting for the red glow of the cigarette to appear when he took a puff. I told you it was weird! That was in the early 1960’s when it seemed like everyone smoked. I never have had the desire to smoke cigarettes and I’m thankful for that.

My favorite memory of my dad was the day we were at the cabin on Big Stone Lake in Ortonville. Dad was driving the boat and I was learning to water ski. I was in my early twenties. To make a long story short, I fell in the middle of the lake and could not get back up. After trying and trying I gave up. Meanwhile the ski rope got tangled in the propeller and we had a big mess. I was exhausted and here I was floating in the lake. Dad thought he would slide off the back of the boat to help me get the rope untangled from the propeller. I don’t know what he was thinking, but when he slid off the back of the boat he disappeared under water and never came back up to the surface. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket.  I desperately tried to reach for him under water and finally grabbed his arm pulling him to the surface. He almost drowned.

Now both of us big guys are in the water, and we have no ladder to get back into the boat! We are stranded in the water, in the middle of the lake! My brother Greg saw we were in trouble and took an inner tube and swam out to us. He was able to pull himself into the boat. We got the ski rope untangled and my brother towed dad and me behind the boat to the shore. We were like beached wales, completely exhausted! While lying on the beach we had mom, my wife Roxie and my grandmother hovering over us yelling at the top of their lungs at both of us for being so stupid! Dad and I laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe, we would look at each other laying on the beach and laugh harder.

That is my funniest and best memory I have of my dad. We told that story so many times over the years and each time crying with laughter.  I have many good memories of my dad. I loved him very much. He was a great father to all of us. I rarely saw him get angry, he was always kind to everyone, wanting to help anybody that had a need. Happy Father’s Day dad! Love you!

Posted: June 17, 2018
Under: Raymo's Ramblings
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MADISON MEMORIAL DAY PROGRAM 2018

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Madison Memorial Day program. Pastor Steven Frank gives the invocation and the speaker is Sean Frandsen of the Minnesota Army National Guard

Posted: May 28, 2018
Under: Veteran's Affairs Office
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VETS INFO ON THE AIR 5-28-18 MEMORIAL DAY

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MEMORIAL DAY 2018, LQP VETERANS SERVICE OFFICER SALUTES A VETERAN AND TALKS ABOUT THE MEMORIAL DAY SERVICES AROUND THE Q92 LISTENING AREA

Posted: May 28, 2018
Under: Veteran's Affairs Office
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RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – PUPPY LOVE

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PUPPY LOVE

Today is Valentine’s Day. Two things come to my mind whenever I think of Valentine’s Day. I was in the fifth grade and the night before Valentine’s Day my mother would give me Valentine’s cards to sign for my classmates at school. I had a huge crush on a girl named Tammy.  I remember making her Valentine’s card special. The next day I couldn’t wait to give her my Valentine card and receive a card from her. I wrote all over her card and colored it and made it a big deal. I remember getting her card with excitement. She didn’t even sign her card, it was just a plain valentine card and it didn’t even say “Will you be my Valentine”. She didn’t even smile at me when giving me her card. It was like I had a disease. I was crushed and hurt. She doesn’t like me! I hate Valentine’s Day! Yes, I remember well what happened to me on that Valentine’s Day in fifth grade.

Fast forward to me in my forties and happily married. Now I am going to brag. I would not say I’m a romantic guy, but I try to be. Our church always held a Valentines banquet and it got to be a pretty big event over the years with well over one hundred people attending the banquet. It was a nice couples evening out. I was asked by the people who were in charge of the Valentines banquet if I would serenade my wife Roxie in front of everyone as part of the program. I said I would.

So I pondered about what to sing to her in front of everyone. Then it came to me. She is the biggest Donny Osmond fan I know. In high school she had all the Osmond albums, posters of Donny Osmond in her room, collected any teen magazine with Donny of the cover. Donny’s biggest hit was Puppy Love. So I decided to serenade my wife with the song Puppy Love. How fitting is that, since we started dating when we were freshman in high school.

I can’t tell you how many times I practiced singing the song Puppy Love in my car. I had a cassette tape of Puppy Love and played it over and over and over. Singing loudly in my car traveling down the road. I perfected it!

Puppy Love

Donny Osmond

And they called it puppy love
Oh, I guess they’ll never know
How a young heart really feels
And why I love her so

And they called it puppy love
Just because we’re in our teens
Tell them all, please tell them it isn’t fair
To take away my only dream

I cry each night my tears for you
My tears are all in vain
I’ll hope and I’ll pray that maybe someday
You’ll be back in my arms once again

Someone, help me, help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I, oh how can I tell them
This is not a puppy love

Someone, help me, help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I, oh how can I tell them
This is not a puppy love, not a puppy love

 

So at the Valentines banquet, Roxie had no idea what was about to happen. After a nice dinner the program began and the master of ceremonies asked Roxie to come up front. He sat Roxie in a chair facing the hundred some people that were in attendance. He said to her that we have a surprise for you. So the music started and I got up from my chair and walked toward the front where Roxie was sitting. While approaching her I started singing Puppy Love to her. Got down on my knee and held her hand and belted the song out the best I could. Her reaction was something I will always remember. Complete shock, and at first it was funny, but as I was ending the song with the words “This is not a puppy love, not a puppy love” The tears began to flow, she was overcome with emotions. We both cried and gave each other a long hug. Roxie will tell you that was thee most romantic thing I have ever done for her. She still talks about it. Every Valentine’s Day she reminds me of that moment.

 

paul-singing-to-roxie-valentines

My suggestion on Valentine’s Day is to give your loved one a hug and kiss and say I love you. It is that simple and a cheap thing to do. Actually you should do that every day. Happy Valentine’s Day.

 

Today is Valentine’s Day. Two things come to my mind whenever I think of Valentine’s Day. I was in the fifth grade and the night before Valentine’s Day my mother would give me Valentine’s cards to sign for my classmates at school. I had a huge crush on a girl named Tammy.  I remember making her Valentine’s card special. The next day I couldn’t wait to give her my Valentine card and receive a card from her. I wrote all over her card and colored it and made it a big deal. I remember getting her card with excitement. She didn’t even sign her card, it was just a plain valentine card and it didn’t even say “Will you be my Valentine”. She didn’t even smile at me when giving me her card. It was like I had a disease. I was crushed and hurt. She doesn’t like me! I hate Valentine’s Day! Yes, I remember well what happened to me on that Valentine’s Day in fifth grade.

Fast forward to me in my forties and happily married. Now I am going to brag. I would not say I’m a romantic guy, but I try to be. Our church always held a Valentines banquet and it got to be a pretty big event over the years with well over one hundred people attending the banquet. It was a nice couples evening out. I was asked by the people who were in charge of the Valentines banquet if I would serenade my wife Roxie in front of everyone as part of the program. I said I would.

So I pondered about what to sing to her in front of everyone. Then it came to me. She is the biggest Donny Osmond fan I know. In high school she had all the Osmond albums, posters of Donny Osmond in her room, collected any teen magazine with Donny of the cover. Donny’s biggest hit was Puppy Love. So I decided to serenade my wife with the song Puppy Love. How fitting is that, since we started dating when we were freshman in high school.

I can’t tell you how many times I practiced singing the song Puppy Love in my car. I had a cassette tape of Puppy Love and played it over and over and over. Singing loudly in my car traveling down the road. I perfected it!

Puppy Love
Donny Osmond
And they called it puppy love
Oh, I guess they’ll never know
How a young heart really feels
And why I love her so
And they called it puppy love
Just because we’re in our teens
Tell them all, please tell them it isn’t fair
To take away my only dream
I cry each night my tears for you
My tears are all in vain
I’ll hope and I’ll pray that maybe someday
You’ll be back in my arms once again
Someone, help me, help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I, oh how can I tell them
This is not a puppy love
Someone, help me, help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I, oh how can I tell them
This is not a puppy love, not a puppy love
 
 
So at the Valentines banquet, Roxie had no idea what was about to happen. After a nice dinner the program began and the master of ceremonies asked Roxie to come up front. He sat Roxie in a chair facing the hundred some people that were in attendance. He said to her that we have a surprise for you. So the music started and I got up from my chair and walked toward the front where Roxie was sitting. While approaching her I started singing Puppy Love to her. Got down on my knee and held her hand and belted the song out the best I could. Her reaction was something I will always remember. Complete shock, and at first it was funny, but as I was ending the song with the words “This is not a puppy love, not a puppy love” The tears began to flow, she was overcome with emotions. We both cried and gave each other a long hug. Roxie will tell you that was thee most romantic thing I have ever done for her. She still talks about it. Every Valentine’s Day she reminds me of that moment.
 
paul singing to Roxie Valentines
 

My suggestion on Valentines Day is to give your loved one a hug and kiss and say I love you. It is that simple and a cheap thing to do. Actually you should do that every day. Happy Valentines Day.

Posted: February 14, 2018
Under: Raymo's Ramblings
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VETS DAY PROGRAM 2017

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VETERANS DAY PROGRAM 2017

Posted: November 14, 2017
Under: Programming
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