Frog and Toad Survey #2 Tonight

Lets hope we don't get stuck.

My Third Foe

I try to be a good steward of my property.  I aim to make the yard a nature friendly place.  Tonight, as I mowed, I surveyed my yard and found my third foe.  My first foe was poison ivy.  I don't like poison ivy because I am allergic to it and end up in urgent care almost every summer and coming out of there with a couple prescriptions.  I poison the poison ivy every year and although it's not gone completely, I have knocked it back quite a bit.  It's an ongoing battle.  My second foe was and is buckthorn - an invasive species that crowds out the native plants.  It's everywhere.  I've cut it and poisoned the stumps the last two falls and I have a whole lot more to do. Tonight I recognized my third foe.  And this one really bugs me because it wasn't a problem until I planted it myself - amur maple.   I wanted a hedge. I wanted something that grew thick to add to the privacy of the yard. And I wanted something natural in appearance-not one of the closely clipped formal hedges.   I didn't know what kind of hedge to get.  I thought I made a careful and informed decision.    I read books.  I studied nursery pamphlets.  I even went out to the University of Minnesota arboretum to look at their hedge collection firsthand.  (I remember this trip distinctly because I accidentally dropped my car keys among the hedges and I had to search long and hard to find them again).   I decided on amur maple because of their growth pattern and pretty color in the fall.  Plus they were cheap.  Arborvitae was my second choice.   I got 25 amur maple plants from the soil and water conservation district.  Now that I have quit mowing so much of the yard I see that amur maple is also an invasive species.  I have thousands of amur maple trees growing everywhere.  They're everywhere!  I am considering cutting them all down; removing that privacy hedge.  Some of these amur maples are now 20 feet high.  I think I will get some advice from some people who know more about this than I do.

That Awkward Moment

I had an awkward moment today.  I was in a meeting with a group, listening to a woman with dark hair and bangs covering her eyes.  She listened with her face turned down to the table.  She looked up at me with her big eyes and gave a snarky, dead pan, sarcastic comment.  In my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh, I can't believe it.  I'm sitting with April Ludgate and I didn't even know it before.  How could I have missed it?"  April Ludgate, in case you don't know, is the apathetic, snarky, capable but under performing employee on the "Parks and Rec" sitcom.  April Ludgate is very unusual and so is this woman I know.  I'm so into my own discovery that I don't listen to a thing she is saying.  I ask her to repeat.  She rolls her eyes at me (JUST LIKE APRIL LUDGATE WOULD HAVE DONE) and repeats herself again but I'm not listening because I'm so entertained by her eye rolling.  Awkward.  So I just smile and pretend I heard her.  I hope I don't accidentally call her April because that would be even more awkward.  Some people ask me how I can stand going to so many meetings.  They have no idea just how entertaining meetings can be sometimes.  People fascinate me.  I can't believe I didn't recognize April Ludgate before.

Preparing

For the last two summers, thanks to the support and companionship of friends and family, I've been able to participate in the Mississippi River Challenge - a two day canoe or kayak trip/fundraiser for "Friends of the Mississippi River."  This year, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it.  I didn't have my former paddling friends this year.  Lucky for me, in talking with another master naturalist, I found a traveling companion.  The trip is back on!  I am excited!   This year, to avoid accidentally allowing Asian carp into the locks (while trying to support the natural beauty of the river) the trip is not starting in Coon Rapids.  Instead we are starting in Bloomington and spending the first day on the Minnesota River.  The second day will be the same - starting at Fort Snelling and paddling down to Cottage Grove.  A 22 mile per day trip is not really easy but not really hard either.  There is no hurry and we're going with the current.  A kayak is easier on my back than a canoe.  And I've got strong arms.  What I don't have is strong skin on my palms.  Both years, by the last break on Sunday afternoon, I had blisters on my palms that really bother me.  I wear gloves the entire two day trip and I still get blisters.  Last year I put "Nu Skin" liquid bandage on my palms to help protect them plus the gloves and I still got blisters.  My blisters show up at the base of my fingers.  It's not an easy spot to bandage and protect.  So this year, I'm going to prepare by toughening up my palms.  Usually I wear gloves when I mow, shovel, hoe and rake.  Not this summer. I'm going gloveless.  I am going to grow me some calluses.  No more baby-soft hands for me.

Finally

Finally I got most of the garden in - tomatoes (better boy), red onions, red potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, green peppers, jalapeno, and sunflowers.  I still have room for pumpkins, squash or corn.  I've got  "behind the thigh gardener's ache" in both legs.  I started some plants inside.  The 3 dozen coleus plants were all starts from last years plants so I've been monkeying with them since September. I also started some morning glories.  I'm glad to get them out of the house and into the soil.  It feels good to work in the garden.  Pulling weeds and planting seeds puts me in a meditative and relaxed state of being. 

Just Like Me- Suck In the Gut For The Camera

Six Chicks

Chick in the mail.

Chick in a pail.

Chick on some soap.

Chick on some rope.

Chick by a star.

Chick on a car.

Chick on a pop.

Chick on a mop.

Picking Up Chicks

I picked up some chicks in Zimmerman tonight.  They arrived in the mail on Wednesday so that makes their birthday (hatch day?) May 22, 2012.  The chicks look identical.  They have tawny heads - like the color of a wheat field in the fall.  Their backs are slightly lighter in color and their abdomens are a creamy beige.  All their feathers are downy with the exception of some really short wing feathers.   The chicks look comfortable in their new home (a blue recycling box).  I've got the heat lamp on them and will try to keep them around 90 degrees for the first week.  They peep very softly.  I took six.  Since 2 of the group I took them from were roosters and I couldn't distinguish the males from the females, I thought six was a good number.  If it turns out I got both roosters, I can cull them and still have four females.  My coop holds 4 to 6 full grown chickens.  If all six turn out to be females, then I will have to do something because I still have Meredith and seven is a large group for that coop.  Chickens don't get along with each other if they are introduced later in life. If I tried to add two females in six months, they would not get along.  Even introducing them a week later can lead to life-long turmoil and hen-pecking.  I hope Meredith gets along with this group.  I have seen her sitting on eggs so that makes me think she has maternal instincts.  And she might be lonely by herself all the time.  I'm not sure if I should introduce her to them now or wait until they're older and can fend better for themselves. Eventually these new chicks will be bigger than her so it may be to her advantage to introduce them now.  I will show Meredith her new sisters and see how she does with them tomorrow.  She can't be with them all the time.  They need the warmth and 90 degrees would be too hot and too confining for her.  Today is a big day for me.  My responsibilities as a pet owner quadrupled.  I went from 1 canary and 1 hen to 1 canary, one hen, and six buff Orpington chicks.

Dakota Uprising of 1862 or We Humans Never Learn

Person number 82 killed in New Ulm during the Dakota Uprising, buried in the street, and later exhumed and moved to the Pioneer Cemetery.






This white buffalo (in Reconciliation Park)  marks the spot in Mankato were 38 Indians were hung until they died. 



In my travels last weekend I learned much about the Dakota Uprising in 1862.  Despite growing up and going to school in Minnesota, I hadn't heard much about this.  38 Indians were hung to death as a result of this conflict - the largest one day execution in the United States.  Is genocide too strong of a word?  We learned about racism in school but that referred to the southern states like Mississippi and Georgia.  We never applied it to our own culture in the Midwest.  Because we didn't discuss 1862, it's as if it never existed.  This makes me very interested.  To learn from mistakes, the actions have to be discussed and examined.  As we toured New Ulm with our very capable history center volunteer, she told us many sides of the same story.  The year was 1862.  Our country was in a civil war. Many men from Minnesota were serving our nation in the south.  Some southerners, knowing there was a war in Minnesota and knowing they had Minnesota troops in their prison camp, being equally prejudiced against Indians and blacks, released the Minnesota boys if they promised to go home and fight the Indians.  We had a treaty with the Dakota tribe.  In exchange for land we would provide blankets, food and money.  Because our nation was at war,  and because some Indian agents were corrupt, we didn't have the money to honor that agreement.  The Indians, without their land and without the buffalo, were starving to death.  The trust between the Indians and the white people went down.  An Indian agent, Thomas Galbraith, had the blankets and food designated for the Indians but refused to hand it over without being paid.  When asked what the Indians should do, he suggested they "eat grass."  Later he was found dead, his mouth filled with grass.  The local settlers were unaware that the treaty was not being honored. Two angry braves were in the countryside.  One stole 5 eggs from a farm.  The other brave told him he shouldn't have done that.  The brave responded he could steal eggs and he could kill the farm family too.  And then he killed the farm family.  The two braves returned to their encampment and told the tribe what they had done.  Reactions varied.  Some Indians wanted to fight.  Starving to death, they felt they did not have much to lose. They wanted all white people to leave the area.  Now, with many men serving in the Civil War, was the right time to attack. Little Crow, the leader of the tribe, said this was impossible.  He knew if the Indians killed white people, they would lose.  More white people would come to fight until all was lost.  Little Crow was accused of being weak.  Hungry and desperate, most of the Indians wanted to fight.  So Little Crow went along with the majority, knowing in his heart it was a lost cause.  Not every Indian wanted to start this battle.  One white family was known for their honesty in running their store, trading furs for goods.  The Indians helped that white family pack their belongings and head into New Ulm to be safe with the rest of the town.  The white people in New Ulm blocked off a three by two block area. They set up a barricade with whatever they could get their hands on - wagons, boards, mattresses, etc.  Three of the buildings in that 3 block area still stand today.  For five days the battle raged.  The people inside the barricade were starving.  A baker, seeing his shop across the street from the barricaded area, went into his shop to bake bread and bring it back.  To get back inside the barricade safely, he threw a buffalo hide over himself.  Under the buffalo hide and holding loaves of bread, he was mistaken for an Indian when he returned and was killed by friendly fire.  Some of the sick and wounded perished inside the barricade.  For sanitary reasons they were temporarily buried in the streets.  Later they were exhumed and moved to the pioneer cemetery at the edge of town.  Those people's graves are marked with numbered white stone circles.  After five days, the remaining survivors abandoned New Ulm and did not return for six months.  The battle went on for months not only in New Ulm, Mankato, but all the way from Iowa to the Canadian border.  By the end the remaining Indians were forced to march to Fort Snelling.  Many of them died along the way.  300 Indians were sentenced to death by hanging.  President Abraham Lincoln pardoned all but 38.  38 Indians were hung in Mankato on the same day.  People came to watch the hangings.  Medical doctors, including William Mayo (father of the famour Mayo brothers) dug up the bodies of the 38 Indians for medical study. Little Crow, the leader of the Dakota, was not punished.  He was shot to death about year later as he visited his former home near Hutchinson.  At that time there was a bounty for any Indians found in the area.  He was shot so his killer could collect the $25 bounty.  The museum had a first hand account by an 11 year old boy who was held for ransom by the Indians.  He had the very white hair common to Norwegian stock.  He was teased by the other boys (both white and Indian) for his white head of hair.  His Indian caretaker, a woman, tried to help him out by rubbing the red soil onto his head, trying to darken his hair.  He said he was treated well by the Indians during his capture.  And he never saw any of the white women (also held captive) molested by any Indians.  Not every captive had such a good experience.  I read the Wikipedia account of the Dakota Uprising.  I think the "first hand accounts" section is unnecessarily shocking and slanted.  I am tempted to write to the Minnesota Historical Society and ask them to amend it.  Why have I never heard this story before?   The older I get the more disgusted I am by what I learned in history class in school.  In August of this year New Ulm and other towns along the Minnesota river are marking the 150th anniversary of the Uprising with a variety of learning experiences and cultural events.  I heard the Minnesota History Center is also noting the anniversary.  If you want to learn more about the Dakota Uprising, this summer would be an excellent time to study it.

All Of You

Photo credit Master Naturalist Facebook page

At our last lunch during the Master Naturalist conference I was asked what was the highlight of the weekend for me.  Easy question.  It's the people.  I can walk into that conference room with 20+ tables that sit 6 people and feel comfortable sitting down at any table and being welcomed into that group.  We all share common interests. Some of these people I've worked with on projects.  Other people I see only once a year.  I've never felt so included by people I barely know. We're an awesome group.  That is me right above the loon on the sign.  Funny story.  The photographer stood on an upper level to take this photo.  He was wearing cargo shorts.  When he yelled down, "Okay, I can see all of you!" someone yelled back, "And we can see all of you too."  We could see right up his pants legs.  Lucky for us it's dark up there.  When he heard that we could see all of him, he put his camera down, looked us straight in the eye and without a smile did a grinding motion with his right leg.  The way he did it let us know this was not the first time he made this particular move.  It was hysterically funny which is why some of us have glistening eyes.  I laughed so hard I cried. 

They Should Make An App For That

Dear Readers, 

Today is your lucky day.  I am giving away, free of any charge, a million dollar idea.  Take it and run.  What we need is a personal gift registry app.  I go to a store, any store, and see something I like.  I capture the bar code with my phone and the item I want (including size and color) is added to my personal gift registry.  All my friends, family and people of my choosing can see my gift registry.  If I change my mind, I can take the item off my list.  If someone gives me that item I can remove it from my list.  Whether I am in a local hardware store, department store, drug store, pawn shop or a gift shack in Timbuktu, I can add items to my personal gift registry.  Gone will be those empty headed moments when someone asks, "What do you want for Christmas?"  That is how we all end up with socks at holiday time-we can't think of something better when we're asked spur of the moment like that.  No more will siblings have to call each other to try and determine what a parent would want as a gift.  You think this will take the wonderful surpise element out of presents?  I disagree.  Who's going to remember what items they put on their gift registry two years ago?  Even if a gift giver doesn't give you a gift from your registry, they can learn your likes and dislikes by studying your registry choices.  They will know your favorite colors, style, and correct size.   And if you do get a gift that makes you inwardly cringe and the giver had access to your gift registry, well, let's just say you've learned quite a bit about them.  You can't tell me you haven't had those moments when your mouth is saying, "Thank you so much.  I'm honored,"  while inside you're thinking "This is going to the Goodwill."  Stores will save money with fewer returns and the prices of merchandise will go down.  Everyone will win with this new app.  It's a million dollar idea.  Now, if only Tracfone would add that feature to their prepaid phones. 

A Thread So Thin

I didn't realize A Thread So Thin was the second book of a series until I finished reading it.  I had my suspicions though. Sometimes the author would hint at things she hadn't really told us about.  Well, that was because this is the second book and she is assuming we already know the characters.  Two of the main characters are Liza and her Aunt Abigail.  Sometimes I think authors write about people they really don't like to make a better story.  In this case, I didn't like Liza or Abigail. Liza is an EXtremely passive college student who can't make a decision to save her life. She lets other people decide for her while pretending she cares.  Her duplicity is as maddening as Abigail's controlling snobbery.  As it turns out, there are reasons these women are acting a little crazy and neither one of them is typically as annoying as they are during most of the story.  I might go back and read Marie Bostwick's first story about Abigail and Liza-haven't decided yet.