she ain't called buns for nothing

the waring chronicles: hawaii

It so happens that Norm and Mary and Linda and I share the same wedding anniversary year. In 1987 we both celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It so happens that we had a business trip to New Zealand in March of that year. Norm and I thought that we should take our wives along as a celebration of our anniversaries. After we finished our business in New Zealand we stopped in Hawaii on our way back to spend a couple of days celebrating the occasion. We thought it would be neat to rent a car and travel around the main island. On the first morning we were there Norm got up bright and early to seek out a rental vehicle. He found a rental agency in the lobby in our hotel lobby. Norm, being as thrifty as he is, found a rental unit at ‘Aloha Funway Rentals’. Not a national firm, but we decided to give it a try. The lot where the rental units were, was a number of blocks away from the hotel. We gathered the items we thought we would need for the day and started off to find Aloha Funway Rentals. We found it and it was not the most impressive business in the area, but in we went. The man who waited on us wanted to rent us a jeep with no top. The top was extra. Mary said, “what if it rains”? He said just bring it back here and we’ll put a top on it. I looked at Mary and her face was starting to turn red and the hair on the back of her neck was sticking straight out. Mary expressed her dissatisfaction with the arrangement. The sales person realized he wasn’t dealing with a country bumpkin. I have never seen Mary so upset and angry. The guy decided he had better come up with a different deal. He had a Mazda that was a number of years old and had over 50,000 miles on it. We took it, but I wondered if the car would get us to where we wanted to go and back. To make a long story short, this little gem got us to where we wanted to go and back. We had to return the car to a very dark and creepy neighborhood. There was only one light on at the rental business where we had to return the car that illuminated a box where we had to insert the keys in a tiny slot. We made it back to the hotel and that was our experience with Aloha Funway Rentals.

Corvair anthology

We drove over from Oshkosh in the black Corvair with the red seats. Mary made supper. Was Kathy sleeping in her crib in your bedroom? And then we lit up 3 cigars and John took our pictures. Whose idea and whose cigars? Capriccio Italienne played on your stereo system in that tiny living room, maybe also some Ravel. I remember John thought your stereo system the best and never found equipment that equaled the sound that we listened to that night.



We drove up to Door County in the black Corvair. It was autumn. I remember dry leaves in the park shelter. No one else was at the state park but the four of us. Maybe we met you somewhere before we got to Door County . I think Mary brought hot dogs. We ate and took photos and drove fast thru the woods.


We drove the black Corvair to the June Sprints. We must have met at your apartment because we could never have found you at the race. I know we went to your apartment after the race. There was another couple and we had supper. It was such an exciting day. I think this may have been the first time I met you. That day at the June Sprints attained mythical status in our memories.

I saw a black Corvair in the grocery store parking lot just this past week. It was sporting “collector” license plates.

I’m glad you and Mary are in my collection of good memories.

the waring chronicles: buns

On one of his visits to Fergus Falls Norm brought Mary along. She and Linda were going to do some sewing. After a long hard day at the office Norm and I returned to the Waring house. (I might say that Linda and I had a dog named Bunny-nicknamed Buns).




We opened the door to go into the house and there were Mary and Buns. I said “hello Buns”. Norm thought that I was talking to Mary and a for time seemed very concerned, in fact he may have been squinting. He then realized I was talking to the dog. Mary has had that nickname ever since.

Dave and Linda Waring

lookout normyu

Lookout Norm, you might fall off.
Keep your children close.

the waring chronicles

I first met Norm Schwister when I was applying for a job with Mid America at Farmington, MN. At the time I was working for Land of Lakes (LOL). (Norm always said that LOL paid Mid Am to hire me). I was hired and started working for Mid AM in March of 1983. By the way, Norm had a dark head of hair when I started working for him.

As the years passed I mentally collected little tidbits about my boss Norm, the Silver Fox. I will try and reconstruct some of these memories:

When he thought he was getting a little round around the middle, he said he would look at me and not feel so bad. When you were in a conversation with Norm and he started to squint, be prepared to defend what you just said or did.

When Norm visited the plant, I always hoped that it was an overcast day because the first thing he did was look at the dryer stack to see if we were losing any powder to the atmosphere. On a clear day there is more contrast and it was easier to spot the escaping powder. It seemed like it never failed that it was a clear day on his visit and we would be losing some powder.

At a managers meeting we broke for lunch. We went to an adjoining room to eat. We sat down. One of the managers was late. The only open chair was next to Norm and that’s where he sat down. Norm mentioned the fact that he always sat next to the person who pays. The manager never sat next to Norm at a meal again.

Happy Birthday Norm.

Dave and Linda Waring

7/5

In honor of the big occasion, we've been experimenting with poetic forms. We've found that the traditional English forms---sonnet, villanelle, rondelet, sestina---offer too limited a range of expression for our birthdaying purposes.

So tonight we proudly inaugurate a new poetic form derived from the Japanese tradition of haiku and senryu: call it "normyu." With a knowing nod to the 5/7/5 pattern of haiku, where the first line contains 5 syllabic stresses (or morae), the second line 7, and the third line 5, normyu playfully upends and truncates the pattern, arriving at a more direct and immediate two-line 7/5 form. And just as haiku may reference nature or the seasons, normyu often place Norm in natural settings.

Three fledgling normyu follow, inspired by a 2006 trip to Utah.

Red fleece, red rock; pinon sways.
Smile: cookies in pack.



An extra clipjoint card punch
to trim those eyebrows.



Creek, chair pulled out from under.
But parents stay dry.

midam employees for dinner

Most evenings, the employees of MidAm joined us for dinner. Whether in Winthrop, Bloomer or Circle Pines, they were all warmly invited into our home.

Irv Kilker . Jim Wilcox . Dave Waring . Walt Wosje . Julie Hilger . Dan Strub

The names were as familiar to us as any relative, famous movie star, or dead president. Their stories of work happenings were woven between forks clinking Corningware plates and pleas to ill-mannered sons, “don’t chew with your mouth open, you’re grossing out your sister“.

Bob Hawley . Don Benson . Brian Bonebright . John Doyle . Keith Murfield

They were general managers, plant managers, and assistant plant managers. They were salesmen, and regional sales managers. They were accountants, engineers and technicians. They were truck drivers, evaporator operators, secretaries, and cheese makers.

Clint Fall . John Payne . Randi Vanhorn . Vermita Messner . Jerry Schell

We know all their old jokes. We can see the punch line coming a mile away but we still laugh. We know their wives and their husbands and their children. We celebrated their marriage announcements, job promotions, and cleaver hallway comments. We mourned their losses, broken marriages, career missteps, and health concerns.

Kent Vogel . Jim Grumwald . Gordy Bublitz . Becky Delzer . Harry Daume

Many, we’ve never met. But of course we know them. We know them because each night they joined us for dinner and Dad shared with us their rich, wonderful stories.

utah hiking

doughnut shirt belied
true mountain man resolve
oh quiet noiZ