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Nice Shirt

The temperature in Minneapolis on July 4, 2012, was 101 degrees F. That was the day we arrived to settle down for Mari's new job in St. Paul.  So when we left Tucson for our recent visit to the Heartland, we were confident that light clothing was all we needed.  

 We needed to tend to our log house, near town, so the day after Elena and Joe's wedding, or perhaps the day after that, we set to work.  It was not 101 degrees.  It was in the fifties, overnight, so we stopped at the Sattre Store, where everything is for sale.  Rafaela found a work shirt for me, unsold at the last garage sale.  It was what the automotive industry likes to call, "pre-owned".  It cost a dollar.  Perfect!  

Duwayne has a new pre-owned tractor with a brush hog, so we arranged for him to teach manners to the driveway and parking areas at the log house.  Mari worked inside the cabin, and I chain-sawed a Chinese elm tree that had come to its final rest over our picnic table.  

 "Is that OK for now?", Duwayne asked after a while. He said that the tractor was getting a little low on diesel fuel.  It was OK.  "I will be back later," he promised.

 Then he turned back.  "Nice shirt!", he said.  

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