Library books that I checked out yesterday.
Yesterday was errand day for me. I was headed to Beach. When you live 20 miles from anywhere, any town is considered "going to town," although, I usually think of Dickinson as "going to town" as it is bigger, and I say "going to Beach" or "going to Bismarck" or "going to Fargo" if I mean anything else. Kinda weird, I know, but that is how it is in Bobby's world.
So, off to Beach I went with a pretty good list of things to do. First stop was the post office to mail off the monthly bills. Then I dropped our youngest granddaughter off at Lincoln Elementary for her pre-school class. My next stop was my former office where I picked up of a former associate, now a good friend, to take her out for her birthday lunch, This was at Buzzy's Cafe in downtown Beach where we both enjoyed a chicken sandwich and their salad bar and a good visit. After lunch, I headed to my scheduled nail appointment at Ry's & Shine nail salon. When my nails were once again presentable, I went to the local pharmacy to pick up our old peoples' monthly supply of "drugs."
Next on the agenda was a stop at the Beach City Office to take care of some business and where I was encouraged to join Beach's new upcoming event an Art Walk to be held on March 26. This sounds like a great new event for our community and I enthusiastically agreed to participate. Stay tuned for more updates on that.
From there, I stopped at the local bank (Beach has three banks!) to take care of some banking business. Then I stopped back at Dakota Insurance to enjoy birthday cake for dessert with Anna . After getting my sugar fix, I hit the Golden County Public Library where I check out four books and returned the ones I had previously. I have decided that library books may be a good way for me to be more disciplined in my reading habits as I will need to get them returned in time and I seem to get distracted by all my hobbies, toys and duties around here easily.
Beach Food Center was my next stop where I purchased bread, milk, cookies and some other important stuff for the upcoming few days. Beach has a nice grocery store and now also has a Dollar General where we can get lots of things that were not available in Beach before. Finally, as I was about out of gas, I made a stop at our local Cenex station. gassed up the Durango and headed for home.
These errands made me stop and think about all the other services available in Beach. It is the county seat, there are two gas stations, two implement dealerships, five churches, several day cares, two bars, a barista & boutique, a hardware store, a lumber yard, a pottery shop, a couple of clothing shops, several insurance agents, an accountant, a medical clinic, a grain elevator, a vet clinic, a body shop, a retirement home, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, a chiropractor, a NAPA, flooring store and service, a funeral home, hairdressers, flower shops and gifts, resale store and antique mall, windshield repair, mechanic, laundromat, fitness center, movie theater, photographers, museum, and I probably forgot someone or something.
I think Beach has always had a pretty active and thriving business atmosphere because it is far enough away from any larger town and is located on the crossroads of I94 and Highway 16. The community is supportive of its local businesses and I know as a former business person there, that I was a recipient of that local loyalty. These are just some of my musings as I went about my errands yesterday,
Speaking of food, I tried a great recipe this week and wanted to share it. It is super easy and the left overs can be made into all sorts of yummy things as well. Here it is.
Finally, I just had another birthday. Another thing we should not take for granted. I was blessed with a visit from my son and family and a yummy birthday cake, decorated by Avery.
Time to get busy - oh, on a side note, I think I am a reformed former football hater and am now looking forward to the Super Bowl this weekend. Wonders never cease! TTFN