Harvesting the Heart

Jodi Picoult wrote Harvesting the Heart in 1993.  This is one of her earlier books. The story explores the life of Paige, a young woman artist from Chicago.  She is abandoned by her mother at the age of 5.  She moves away from her father to the east coast where she is almost immediately swept off her feet by a medical student named Nicholas.  They marry and after five years have a child.  She put her schooling and interest in art aside to support him in his quest to be a cardiac surgeon.  Neither is ready to be a good parent.  Her husband can escape the tribulations of a newborn by going to work.  She can't.  Nicholas is not understanding or forgiving.  The book is good except the ending blows.  I think authors ought to decide what happens and provide us with resolution. I don't like to be left hanging. 

Freaking Squirrels!

Squirrels. I spend more time and energy trying to foil the squirrels but I never succeed for long.  I received a gift of a bird feeder designed for peanuts and a bag of peanuts..  I strung it on the line with squirrel deterrents such as pvc pipe and empty soda bottles.  The dang squirrels knocked it down and ate all the peanuts in a single day.  I took the feeder out of the snow, refilled it, and hung it on a hook on my deck.  The wire mesh that constitutes the sides is too small for squirrels to get their pesky fingers into it.  So what did the squirrels do?  They took the feeder apart.  They actually took one vertical wire completely off thus doubling the space to get the peanuts out.  I was told this when I got home from work.  I looked and saw a fat and sassy squirrel sitting on the snow bank on the deck munching on peanuts with his back to the deck door.  My blood boiled. My brand new bird feeder was destroyed.  I took up my super soaker, pumped it once, opened the deck door and yelled “You Die!” while soaking him.  I forgot I wasn’t home alone.  Both offspring were there.  You really got to think about how you come across sometimes.  For an offspring who has been to Iraq and back, this was a funny, “you tube” worthy performance.

Sad News About Phyllis, the Chicken

Phyllis the chicken (see her on the far right) died today in her coop in Ramsey.  She was hatched April 1, 2009 in Iowa.  Phyllis died December 29, 2010 at the age of 1 year and 8 months.  Cause of death is unknown.  She is preceeded in death by her two brothers, Dwight and Angela (Angelo).  She is survived by three sisters, Kelly, Pamela, and Meredith.  Phyllis survived a vicious dog attack by a min-pin with attitude in the fall of 2009.  She was missing her left outer talon.   Services have been held.

Project Feeder Watch

American Crow-4, Black capped chickadee-5, White breasted nuthatch-4, Red bellied woodpecker-1, Downy Woodpecker - 2. I usually count some juncos and they are around, they just weren't around during the time I was watching this weekend.

British TV Commercial Awards

On Monday, Offspring #2 and I went to the British TV Commercial Awards with some friends.  I've gone every year for 4 or 5 years now.  The best commercials are shown.  This year I thought the selection was not as good as previous years.  The topics were darker.  One of the most disturbing commercials involved bodies falling from the sky in a downtown area.  At first you couldn't really tell what the bodies were but it reminded me of scenes from the destruction of the Twin Towers. Eventually you can see the bodies are polar bears dropping onto vehicles and onto the pavement.  The message at the ends indicates that every time you take a plane ride your flight introduces greenhouses gases into the air equivalent to one polar bear.  Well, how disturbing is that?  Next month I will be taking six plane rides (three to get there and three to get back). The video above shows the number one winner.  Now I want to be a part of a flash mob.  I heard there is a flash mob in Minneapolis that rides the light rail in January without pants.  Ok, I could maybe try wearing boxers on the light rail in July but I cannot ride without pants in January - it's downright dangerous.  I want a fully clothed flash mob experience.  Another good commercial involved sheep wearing LED lighted blankets, herd dogs, and a large field on a hillside.  They got the sheep to move on the dark hillside to look like an Atari game.  One group of sheep formed the round ball while two lines of sheep seemed to make the ball bounce back and forth.  I don't remember what they were advertising with the sheep but it was entertaining.  Some commercials were too long.  I think one was 3 minutes long.  I watched one that old the story of a young teen who loved music and wore make up and dressed androgynously. He tried college but dropped out.  He lost job after job because of his attitude.  He loved guitar hero.  He lived with his parents and his Mom cheered him on when he played guitar hero.  I thought the commercial was about guitar hero. The last scene shows him loosing another job and jumping off a ladder into a bin of Doritoes.  That is when we learn the commercial is for Doritoes.  He never even eats Doritoes or shows any interest in Doritoes.  Maybe you have to be British to get some of these commercials.

Season of Belief

This holiday season I once again believed in the magic of Santa Claus.  Somewhere in my parent's house is a record.  For those of you who don't know, a record is a black vinyl disc with a small hole in the center. As it rotates on a turntable, a needle picks up the patterns in the grooves and converts it into sound.  This particular record was made at Dayton's Department Store in St. Paul.  When kids visited Santa at Daytons  in the early 1950's, they were given a record of the conversation they had with the jolly old elf.  On this record, Santa asks my older sibling what she wanted for Christmas. She answers, "I want something for Susie and Tilly."   Awwwwww!  Isn't that sweet?  And generous?  Doesn't that answer embody the magic of Christmas?  I've never been that kind hearted.  Susie is me.  Don't ever call me that though.  Only my older sibling can call me that.  And Tilly was our dog, a weimaraner with a short, sausage like tail, large ears and the patience of a saint.  I'm glad to get top billing over the dog.

May All Jollity Lighten Your Christmas Hours

Battle Brook Where We Saw The Trumpeter Swans

Here is the location near Elk Lake where we saw the 6 trumpeter swans swimming in Battle Brook.  Wish I had thought to take a picture when the Trumpeters were still there.  Even without the swans, it's a pretty sight to see.

Google Ngram Viewer

Google has a new feature where you can graph the frequency of words used in books over the years.  The graph above charts carnivore (in blue) and vegetarian (in red).  You can see a huge increase in the use of the word vegetarian since 1980.  You can go to http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/ to graph your own selection of words.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Northern Cardinal-2, Blue Jay-2, White breasted Nuthatch-4, Black capped chickadee-5, Junco-3, Crow-1, Downy Woodpecker-2

This was the first weekend without a snowstorm for 2 or 3 weeks.  It's amazing how much more I can accomplish when I don't have to spend hours shoveling.

Bicycle Fence

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can barely see the bicycle fence I was telling you about yesterday.  Look in the distance, beyond the first ten oak trees, and you can see a line going across the horizon at the bottom of a slope. That is the fence line of bicycles.  Is it reycline?  Is it art?  Is it a line of junk?  I don't think it matters to this homeowner what I think this is.  The homeowner seems to be lining up these bicycles for their own reasons.

Miracle on 34th Street

On Friday some friends and I went out to dinner and then enjoyed the play, Miracle on 34th Street at the theater in Anoka.  The show was sold out.  The Kris Kringle character was excellent.  He exuded Santa Claus.  He had a confidence about him that let us know he knew we believed he was Santa Claus just a little bit too.  The girl who played Susan was also very talented.  Another little girl had a bit part.  She played a little Dutch orphan and was so traumatized by her journey to America that she could not speak until she sat on Santa's lap.  Then she started talking.  Santa talked to her in Dutch and together they sang a little song together.  That moment was very touching. Overall it was a great performance. My only complaint was the incredibly distracting and numerous set changes.

Christmas Bird Count

Today a sibling and I went on our second annual Christmas Bird Count from the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.  This is an annual citizen science event that has taken place every year since Christmas, 1900. For the first five years the practice was to shoot as many birds as possible. Since 1905 the practice has been to look; not shoot.  A 15 mile diameter circle is drawn from a starting point.  We were assigned the south east slice of the pie.  Our bird party consisted of my sibling, myself, and our former bird teacher. We drove around in a big, old Buick looking for birds.  I wasn't sure how much outdoor walking we would be doing.  I overdressed.  I had so many layers on I wasn't a bit cold.  My main problem was bending my arms.  I really had to struggle to bring my binoculars to my face because all the layers braced my arms to stay straight.  We did very little walking so I really didn't need to wear all those clothes.  It's hard to take layers off when you're buckled into your seat.  We drove around for at least 15 minutes before we saw any birds at all.  We started with a 7:30 meeting to discuss details and assign territories.  By 8:30 we were on the road.  Our first bird was a blue jay. And then we saw 300 more birds for a total of 18 species.  Here they are in order of frequency:  Bald eagle - 1, House finch - 1, Pileated woodpecker - 1, Red tailed hawk - 2, Hairy woodpecker - 2, American Tree sparrow - 3, White breasted nuthatch - 4, Cardinal - 4, Red bellied woodpecker - 6, Trumpeter swans - 6, Downy woodpecker - 12, Junco - 12, Pheasant - 15, Crow - 18, Goldfinch - 18, Blue jay - 52, Turkey - 70, Black capped chickadee - 81.  We saw the turkeys near the end of our excursion so, pound for pound, that added a lot to our total.  I think the most exciting part was when we crossed Battle brook near Elk Lake. The water was open on the brook by the dam.  As the Buick crossed the bridge, I saw some white hunks of snow in the water.  But wait, they weren't white hunks of snow. They had necks!  Those trumpeter swans really got my heart pounding.  There were two adults and four cygnets.  The pheasants were fun too.  We were passing a field with gravel hills in the distance and a small gravel hill near the road.  My sibling said she saw a bird on the hill.  She got out of the car.  We had our binoculars set on the gravel hills in the distance. As she moved toward the near hill, a flock of pheasants took off flying.  As we counted the pheasants, blue and white lights flashed behind us. The sheriff asked what we were doing.  He had a stern look on his young face.  When we said we were counting pheasants for the Christmas bird count and he saw the binoculars, he relaxed and told us he usually sees pheasants or turkeys in this area.  Our pie slice reached down to the outskirts of Elk River.  I knew a master naturalist in the area.  I suggested we go there because I remembered he had bird feeders.  Sure enough, he did have bird feeders and we added another dozen birds to our total.  Heading back toward Zimmerman, we came upon a street named Fresno.  We decided to take that street just because we hadn't been on it yet.  We found a house with some bird feeders that had feed in them. Lots of houses have empty bird feeders.  This house, besides the full bird feeders, had an unusual fence.  If my photo turns out I will try to post a picture of the most unusual fence I have ever seen.  The fence was chain link about four feet tall.  I know that does not sound unusual but lining the chain link was a line of bicycles of all colors. We saw at least 100 bicycles in a line, all facing forward toward Zimmerman.  I hope the photo turns out.  We finished up about 1 o'clock and turned in our totals.  I look forward to doing it again next year. 

Barred Owl

This is the same kind of owl that ate a mouse out of my hand a couple years ago.  I'll never forget those big brown eyes and yellow bill.  I love the way the owl hoots with it's whole body.  The neck gets huge and round, the head lowers and the tail raises up.  The owl gives a whole body hoot.

The Bridal Wreath

Sigrid Undset wrote a series of three books, the first of these is The Bridal Wreath.  She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 for this series of books.  The series focuses on a woman named Kristin Lavransdatter, a Norwegian woman living in the tenth century.  The first book focuses on Kristin's early life until the age of 18.  Funny, it doesn't matter if it's medieval times or modern times, teenage girls sneak out of the house to meet their boyfriends and some of them have premarital sex.  The story is the same, only the times are different.  When we discussed this book in my book club, some people wondered how a medieval romance series won the Nobel Prize.  One person mentioned she did live in Norway as if that gave  her a better chance of winning the prize.  In the group of 20 plus people, no one completed reading the entire book.  My excuse is that I only had it for ten days so I read as much as I could before I had to return it to the library.  I read the first third and the final chapter.  If I liked it more, I would have found a way to finish it.

Joseph, his Coat, the Ordway

I got a call from a sibling in the middle of the day on Sunday offering me a free ticket to the Ordway production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I already had my evening planned:  clean the house, water the plants, clean the chicken coop and watch Desperate Housewives while knitting.  So I had a decision to make, desperate housewives or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Ordway?  Forget the housewives, I wanted to go to the Ordway.  So I threw off my sweat pants and and headed to St. Paul.  Even though the snow had stopped 24 hours earlier, many downtown streets were not plowed.  We parked in a lot across a  park decorated with Christmas lights from the Ordway. The air was frigid and the walking was treacherous but it was pretty downtown.  We had to walk through the lobby of the St. Paul Hotel to get there.  The St. Paul Hotel is always an interesting place to walk through but at Christmas it is really dressed to the nines.  Wow, what a difference between a Broadway production and the local productions I am used to.  The show started out with a couple kids up on the stage tossing a ball back and forth.  We wondered if they were supposed to be up there.  More kids came up.  Some played marbles and others jumped rope.  Eventually we figured out these weren't errant day care kids but really part of the production.  The children added a nice touch.  The singing, the dancing, the choreography - it was all amazing.  Joseph was a great performer.  He spent a lot of the performance without a shirt on.  I think those pecs were real - they can't be drawn on.  I love to watch people dance and this show had some truly excellent dancers.  We were so enthralled that when we left, the air didn't feel as cold and we were singing "Go go Joseph, Go!" all the way back to our parking ramp.  What a wonderful evening.  I am so lucky to be invited.

  

Project Feeder Watch Update

Red bellied woodpecker - 2, Downy Woodpecker - 2, Junco - 2, Black capped chickadee - 5, White breasted Nuthatch - 2, Crow - 1, Blue Jay - 1

(Tough weekend to be a bird.  I had to don my snowshoes to fill up the bird feeders).

Suspicious

Today was a good day to stay home and bake cookies.  Even before the blizzard was predicted baking cookies was my plan. I stocked up on almonds, flour, orange extract and pistachios on Friday so I was all set.  In the middle of one recipe I found I was out of cream of tartar.  I've had this can of cream of tartar forever.  Who knew it would run out?  And how many recipes call for two teaspoons of cream of tartar?  And just what is cream of tartar anyway?  It's nothing like tartar sauce.  And nothing like the stuff that sticks to your teeth.  I suspect it has some chemical property that makes food rise.  I looked in my food bible, The Joy of Cooking for  a substitution for cream of tartar.  There isn't one.  So I called a neighbor and asked if they had any cream of tartar.   They did and were willing to share.  I said I'd be right over.  No, they said, we will come to you.  These neighbors are truly wonderful people but this is a freaking blizzard.  I insisted on coming over.  They said they would meet me half way.  So I dressed up and trudged over to their house.  We met almost halfway.  He got a little farther.  He didn't stop to put snow pants on like I did.  Neighbors across the street were shoveling out what the plow put in.  I opened my empty can of cream of tartar.  He opened his full can and shook some of the white powder into my can.  We talked for a minute and parted ways.  I have to wonder just what the shoveling neighbors thought we were doing.  We had to look suspicious.  So on my way back, in an effort to allay their suspicion look friendly I said, "Enough snow for you?"  They agreed it was enough snow. 

Cloud Chamber

I just finished reading Cloud Chamber by Michael Dorris.  I have previously read two of Dorris' books; A Broken Cord and Yellow Raft in Blue Water.  Michael Dorris wrote this book in 1997.  He committed suicide the same year.   He was married to Louise Erdrich, a Minnesota author. I've read many of her books and also saw a play at the Guthrie based on her book, The Master Butchers Singing Club.  Dorris led an unusual life.  In 1971 he became the first unmarried man in this country to adopt a child.  He eventually adopted three children, all native Americans, and all with fetal alcohol syndrome.  In my work I have some experience with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).  FAS is a tough diagnosis.  Parental guilt is huge.  I've seen brain scans of people with and without FAS.  I was amazed how much damage alcohol can do to a developing fetus and how easy it is to see on brain scans.  Seeing the scans makes me grateful because there, but for the grace of God, go I. Alcohol damages the developing cells.  When a fetus is only 4 cells big, or 8 or 16 or 32 cells big, the damage is much worse than in the third trimester.  FAS is tough too because some people with FAS know they are not being treated like other people but can't understand why and cannot, for the life of them, learn from any mistakes they make.  Because of my work, I was fascinated by Dorris' book The Broken Cord.  And although he did a great job describing FAS and how hard it is to raise a child with FAS, I could not agree with his idea to put pregnant alcoholics in prison.  The book, Cloud Chamber does not address FAS.  This is a tale about a family that originates in Ireland and ends up on a reservation in Montana. It's a story about women who assertively express their opinion knowing they will hurt the feelings of others and the people who have to live with them.  Dorris is a talented storyteller.  He makes smooth transitions as he tells the story from the voice of different characters.  I would never guess by reading it that the author would soon kill himself.  The characters are compelling.  I found myself reaching for the book to find out what happened to them.

Sign I Saw At The Fitness Center

How to Survive the Holidays With Sherry

I believe they were talking about a personal trainer named Sherry, not the sherry wine.  And not that Sherry is a bear to be with during the holidays.  Instead she is giving general advice for getting through the holidays.  Besides, this fitness club does sell nutritional supplements.  If they actually were talking about sherry wine, for sure there would be something on the label about omega plus, zinc, protein and antioxidants.

Wolf Exchange

Today I met a woman in Maple Grove and picked up five wolves. Four of us are working on a capstone project together for our Master Naturalist Class.  We work well together and have a chemistry that makes the work fun.  Our project involves beautifying the entry garden at the Wildlife Science Center.  We cleaned out the weeds, planted native species, laid down mulch, and added signs that label most of the species.  All that looked nice but the huge propane tank stuck out.  We thought we'd attract the eyes away from the propane tank by adding some wolf silhouettes.  I ordered the silhouettes and cut out the paper patterns.  My friend and her husband cut the wolves out of plywood.  The next step is to add primer and black paint.  I unloaded the wolves and they are sitting quietly in the foyer right now.  Over the winter I will get them painted. This should be fun!

 

Concert in Northfield or Lost In A Sea Of Nordic Sweaters

Last Thursday Offspring #2 and I went to the St. Olaf Christmas Concert.  This was our final opportunity to go to this concert because she will graduate this May.  The concert is held in an athletic facility.  Most of the audience is seated in bleacher seats on the sides while a few are given floor seating.  We always sat in the bleacher seats before.  This year we got floor seating.  I'm not sure why we got the premium seats.  Maybe we got good seats because we owe them so much money.  But wowzers, what a different experience we had.  In the beginning of the concert, the singers fill the aisles and sing before they head up to the stage.  Kids are singing to our right, our left, behind us and ahead of us.  Because this is St. Olaf, just about every kid  in choir was THE best singer in their high school.  They are singing so close to use we can hear some individual voices. Each singer was belting out the tunes.  It was enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. Eventually the kids filed up to the stage like you can see in the picture.  Every once in a while they would allow the audience to stand up and sing along.  Even the singers in the audience around us were very talented.  The St. Olaf tradition is to wear Nordic sweaters. You know Nordic sweaters - the kind with patterns knitted in horizontal rows around the upper chest? Some have reindeer and some have brass buttons and they come in darker colors.  I forgot to wear my Nordic sweater this year. I stuck out like a sore thumb.  At the end of the concert, the singers came back down into the aisles to sing the last three songs.  I was so impressed.  The music was very moving and the concert was a great way to start the month of December.  And the final advantage to floor seating?  I was out of that parking lot before a line of cars could form.  I was driving east on Highway 19 before the people in the bleachers even set foot on the floor. 

39 Steps

On Friday night I went to see "39 Steps" at the Guthrie with some roommates from college.  One of my roommates lives in Isanti and we drove together.  The other roommate lives in Plymouth and met us there.  Because of the weather conditions, I ended up spending a long time with the roommate from Isanti and very little with the one from Plymouth.  We had a white-knuckle ride there and back home again.  Our plan was to meet at 5:30 and have dinner before the show. We arrived at 6:45 and had to gulp our food to make the show on time.  They held the show for seven minutes because of the weather.  How they came up with seven minutes I don't know.  30 Steps is considered to be a farce comedy; more funny than mystery.  Some parts were slapstick and some were vaudeville.  The play moves so fast you don't really have time to appreciate everything that goes on.  39 Steps has four actors.  The lead actor plays himself the entire show.  The lead actress plays about 4 parts.  The two supporting actors play about 30 characters each.  Sometimes the supporting actor's characters change so fast all they have time to do is change hats and act differently.   I think the supporting actors showed more talent because their roles called for more talent.  The play alludes to other Hitchcock films.  One segment of the action went into a shadow puppet mode.  The lead character's puppet is carried away by a flock of birds (The Birds), dropped into a lake, is rescued by the Lockness Monster, gets a big kiss from the Lockness Monster, talks about the northwest corner of the lake (North by Northwest), and going out the rear window (Rear Window).  We also see a big shadow of Alfred Hitchcock himself.  The play pokes fun of the Germans, the British, and the Scots.  39 Steps is one of those plays that you could see ten times and appreciate different humor every time. 

Project Feeder Watch Update

Black Capped Chickadee - 5, White breasted Nuthatch - 3, Downy Woodpecker - 2, Blue Jay - 1

I had a busy weekend and didn't have much time to watch for songbirds out the window.  These are the birds I saw while I refilled the bird feeders and washed out the heated bird bath.  One hungry downy attempted to eat suet as I was raising the bird feeder into the air.  He flew off when he realized he was being elevated.

Annual Paper Session

Today a sibling and I attended the annual Minnesota Ornithological Union annual paper session at the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota.  I'm not used to sitting and listening for hours on end but the topics were fascinating.  The first two talks were on loons.  Loons.  I thought they were nice birds.  Loons are the state bird.  Loons make lonely calls in the middle of the night and adorn license plates.  Turns out loons are a warrior bird.  People think they have the same pair of loons for year after year at their lake.  Loon banding projects prove this is not the case.  Loons drive others off the lake and take over as the mate and parent of the chicks.  Male and female loons do this.  Loons fight.  We saw video of female loons fighting each other and male loons fighting each other.  I would not want to get whacked repeatedly by a loon wing.  Male loons will swim under the resident male loon and drive their beak into the breast of the unsuspecting loon, puncturing the organs and causing a fatal stab wound. Another topic was the scientific classification system.  Big changes are ahead for us.  With the advent of DNA analysis they are finding that birds we thought were on the same branch of the bird family are not.  In the next ten years many birds will be reclassified and we will learn about the "next new truth."  This applies not only to birds but all animals and plants.  You might want to hold off buying any more field guides until the year 2020.  We listened to talks about the two major causes of songbird death - unrestrained cats and windows.  We listened to talks about peregrine falcons and purple martins.  I had a great day learning, listening, and reconnecting with other birders.  I learned that in the United States, one of four people enjoy birding.  In Minnesota, one out of three people proclaim their love of birds.  It's funny how conversations go when the subject turns to birds.  After the session we went out visiting.  I found out that my father was nicknamed "slough pumper" on his baseball team.  We asked what a slough pumper was and why he was given that nickname, we were told a slough pumper is a shypoke and it has long legs.  True, he has long longs but what is a shypoke?  Turns out both a shypoke and a slough pumper are birds, dark in color, that live in the swamp and make a lot of noise.  I looked up both words.  Shypoke is a term that applies to several kinds of egret.  A slough pumper is a bittern (see photo), a small egret that makes a mechanical call that sounds like "pump-er-lunk."  I spent the whole day learning about birds and what I came away with is there is so much more I want to learn about birds.

We're Back In The Egg Business

This morning I found a fresh egg in the coop. We're back in the business of laying eggs again.  Do you think the public announcement (blogging) of the lack of eggs shamed one into action?

Christmas Festival Tonight

Tonight is the St. Olaf Christmas music festival.  Rats, I forgot to dress appropriately.  Tradition calls for a Nordic sweater.

I Don't Want To Be Mrs. Tweedy from the Tweedy Egg Farm but . . .

My chickens haven't laid any eggs for weeks.  What is up with that?  They continue to eat as much food and drink as much water.  Except for Pamela who is still molting, they look healthy.  They walk and talk and move about like they did before.  Chickens would normally not produce eggs in the winter because there is less sunlight.  My chickens have had a light in the coop for a couple weeks now.  The light keeps them warm. Last year the light kept them laying all winter long. I moved the location of the light so that it shines more on the door area of the coop instead of the nesting area of the coop.  Maybe that is the difference.  Maybe they are adjusting to their winter diet.  They don't eat any dandelion leaves or bugs anymore.  All they eat is what I give them; chicken mash with the occasional dried meal worms, cucumber, whey, and sunflower seeds.  This morning they had a little bit of leftover banana bread. If you saw the movie Chicken Run you might remember that Mrs. Tweedy counts how many eggs each chicken produces.  Low egg producers are made into chicken pot pie.  I'm not going to turn my girls into a pie but I do wonder, what am I getting for all this chicken feed?

When I Finally Got To Work And Parked My Car I Said

Wow, what a commute I had today.  Although I went the same distance, I took twice as much time and used twice as much gas.  Highway 47 was snow covered and traffic was slow.  Highway 10 was covered with an inch of ice and very slippery.  I followed a driver in a big white truck who kept tapping  the brakes and fishtailing.  Everyone went slow because we were all sliding around.  Once I got to Hanson Boulevard, the road was in much better condition and I finally made it out of second gear.  I consoled myself by thinking of my tropical vacation in January and riding my motorcycle again next June. 

The Age of Grief

The Age of Grief was written by Jane Smiley.  I've read other books she has written such as A Thousand Acres, Moo, and Ten Days In the Hills.  This book was a collection of short stories and one novella.  The novella was made into a movie in 2002 names "The Secret Lives of Dentists."  I think I'll have to put that on my netflix queue.   This was a good book to read during my week off work.  I could pick it up, read a story, and easily put it down again to start my next project.  Jane Smiley writes about the private thoughts of people.  In one story, a woman is fascinated by her new neighbors.  She becomes friends with the couple and spends all her free time with them.  She's pretty sure they like her a lot too.  Later she learns they appreciated her interest because she kept their minds off the fact that they were in the process of splitting up and going separate ways.  If I had to say there was a theme in the book, the theme would be misunderstanding.  What people thought wasn't how things really were.  The Age of Grief was a good book.

Project Feeder Watch

Black capped chickadee- 4, Junco - 5, White breasted nuthatch - 4, Red bellied woodpecker - 1, Downy Woodpecker - 1, Cardinal - 3, Blue Jay - 2, Crow - 1,  Ring necked pheasant - 3.  This is the first time I've ever seen pheasant in the yard.  I only noticed them skulking near the woods because I was busy watching a squirrel trying to get on my bird feeder.  It galls me to be thankful to a squirrel for this sighting.
photo by Eric Huish

Me versus Squirrels

Here is my new anti-squirrel birdfeeder set up as seen from the living room window.  On the yellow cord, from the house or from the left is a tin pie plate, 6 inch pvc pipe with a diameter of one half inch, empty iced tea bottle with hole in bottom, another six inch piece of pvc pipe, the feeder, an ice tea bottle, more pvc pipe, an ice tea bottle and another tin pie plate.  I put it up on Friday.  On Friday we enjoyed watching squirrels run down the cord, stop at the pie plate, and turn around to come back.  They did this repeatedly.  On Saturday, however, I found a squirrel on the birdfeeder.  Curses!  How the squirrel got past the pie plate and past three spinning items is beyond me.  I am really disappointed that this doesn't work.  Plus it looks like I have suspended garbage over my lawn.  I watched for  quite a while today.  I never saw a squirrel get on the bird feeder even though I chased them off three times.  They are smart enough to get on when I am not looking.  Here is my next idea.  I'll buy two six feet pieces of pvc pipe that has a diameter of two inches and put one on each side of the feeder.  Or do you think I should make that 8 feet long?

Unusual Hostess Gift

I got two hostess gifts this week.  One was a softball sized mum with pipecleaner turkey tail and a pom pom turkey face on it; very cute. The other was a bag with five blue plastic bags.  I asked what this was.  I was told if I could figure it out I could not keep the gift.  Below the plasic bags were five metal minature torpedos.  I had to think a minute before I figured out they were maple taps.  I have been considering tapping my maple trees.  I even looked for taps last year but the stores were sold out before I could get there.  Now I am ready for the 2012 maple tapping season.  I think it's awesome when I am encouraged to be the tree-hugging/nature geek/do-it-yourselfer that I already am.  I once helped make maple syrup one spring in Lutsen almost 30 years ago.  We spent the weekend emptying milk jugs and boiling sap.  When it was time for lunch, we stuck hot dogs on sticks and boiled them in the sap (I was still a carnivore at that time).   I remember having a lot of fun in the maple forest that day.  Lets hope that this March was warm days and cold nights so I can collect enough sap for at least a couple meals of pancakes.

What A Holiday!

What a great holiday!  I'm feeling much better about it today because I burned 270 calories off this morning on the elliptical.  Turn out was great.  Every year I count the guests, the chairs and the plates and I never seem to get it right.  This year we were one plate and two chair short.  The situation was easily resolved.  The food was excellent.  We had turkey, tofurky, mashed potatoes, two kinds of gravy, two kinds of stuffing, fruit salad with craisins and walnuts, glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, home made dinner rolls with home made butter. Turns out butter is really easy to make.  I made butter in under ten minutes.  I took two pints of heavy cream.  I tried to find cream without carrageenan (a thickening additive).  I looked at several grocery stores before finding some at the Grass Roots Coop in Anoka.  I set the heavy cream on the counter for an hour before using it.  I set the cream into the mixing bowl and covered the top with a clean plastic bag.  Drops of cream fly all over so it is important to cover the mixing bowl.  I set the mixer on high.  After two minutes, the sound of the mixer changed so I checked and found whipped cream. I kept mixing.  At 7 minutes, the sound changed again.  I looked and saw the cream was starting to separate into butter and whey.  I mixed a minute longer.  I scooped out the butter and disposed of the whey.  I rinsed the butter with cold water several times.  I sprinkled a half teaspoon of salt and mixed the salt into the butter.  I ended up with almost a pound of butter.  The color was the same as butter you buy at the store.  My opinion is the taste of homemade butter was better than what you buy at the store.  I will definitely make butter again.  For dessert we had apple pie, pumpkin pie, almond pretzel rods, brownies, peanut blossom cookies, shortbread cookies, chips and cheese dip.  The guests brought most of the food. Talking and teasing go hand in hand in my family.  We played charades, "Sorry" and "Taboo."  This year we tried a new game called "Would You Rather?"  We answered questions like "Would you rather have a vain spouse or a spouse with self-esteem issues?"  Or "Would you rather be unable to speak for a year or unable to walk for a year?" I prefer the kind of games that an entire group can enjoy; even the younger ones.  The kids brought sleds and warm clothes but dang, it was cold out there.  I went out for a short time to help one girl hold a chicken and to untangle the swing that was stuck high in the oak tree. I know it was a good day because my face was sore from laughing so much. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blue Jays Have Chin Curtains

This morning I was admiring the birds at the bird feeder. A blue jay came to take a drink at my heated water bowl.  Steam was rising out of the bowl into the cold air. A rim of thick frost built up on one side of the bowl.  Blue jays are huge birds compared to the other juncos, chickadees, and nuthatches.  Blue jays are not only big but they are bold.  Their blue color is bold.  The head shape is bold.  The beak is bold.  The black eye stripe makes them look bold and criminal.  Their long tails are bold.  And look at that black chin curtain; very bold.  For as bold as blue jays appear, their behavior is strikingly timid.  As soon as the blue jay saw me looking through the deck door, it took off flying through the woods, screaming, "Awwk!  She was looking at me through the glass? Awwk!"

Trees To Admire

This year I had paid notice and admired three kinds of trees.  One is the tamarack because of their beautiful butterscotch gold color.  Another is the weeping willow.  Their gaudy orange-yellow leaves really stand out these days.  The third kind of tree isn't a specific species. I've been looking closely and found some are cottonwood and some are silver maple and some are aspen.  I'm talking about the kind of tree often seen on roadsides.  I tried to get a good picture but I guess I didn't try hard enough.  Shooting photos while driving is dangerous.  The one above was taken at a long red light.  What I like about this kind of tree is the way it holds onto those last leaves. It's as if the tree is being dragged into winter kicking and screaming.  The branches all reach upward to the sky.  The tips of each branch hold onto the last few green leaves with all their might.

Project Feederwatch

Northern Cardinals - 5, Black capped Chickadee - 7, Junco - 3, White breasted nuthatch - 2, Downy woodpecker - 2, American Crow - 1, Red bellied woodpecker - 2, Robin - 1, Blue jay - 2, Goldfinch - 2   

I think my new bird feeder set up is working. I am seeing more birds.  I've never had more than two cardinals before.  Three of the cardinals were female.  And I've never had more than one red bellied woodpecker at a time either.  I think they were two males because they were fighting and chasing each other off the suet feeders.  The yellow cord suspending the bird feeder was slippery this morning.  I think the freezing rain stuck to the cord because I saw several birds try to land on it and loose their balance.  Unfortunately, one of the gray squirrels got onto my new bird feeder.  He sat on the roof of the suspended feeder and threw handfuls of black sunflower seeds down to his cohorts waiting below.  He didn't cross over on the line.  I watched him to figure out what he was doing.  He threw himself through the air like a freaking trapeze artist from the deck railing.  I guess I'll have to more the feeder a little further away from the deck to foil him.                                                

The Fourth Hand

I was pretty excited to get my hands on another John Irving book so quickly.  (Love my library).  Once I started reading it, disappointment set in.  This book, unlike Irving's other books, wasn't as good.  He was using more sensational language and he wasn't getting into the meat of the story.  He's a good story teller but this book was skimming the surface.  And I didn't like the main character, Patrick Wallingford.  Several times I stopped to ponder on what a jerk he was.  Patrick Wallingford was a handsome television newscaster who was sexually compliant with  every woman who hit on him.  He worked for a cable news network that specialized in sensational stories about death.  He had no journalistic ethics at all.  Once in a while Patrick would think a thought that was semi-kind so I would try to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Like nearly all Irving's books, there is a missing limb.  Patrick becomes knows as "The Lion Guy" when filming a story at a zoo in India and lions tear off his left hand and eat it - live on television.  Later he gets a donor hand from a guy in Wisconsin.  He becomes involved with the wife of his donor.  By the end of the story, Patrick Wallingford is a nicer man.  I think the author wrote this story in such a flippant style to illustrate how television news focuses on the sensational sound bites and misses the meat of the story.

Recovery of the Gray Wolf

I brought a friend with me to the north metro chapter meeting of the Master naturalists.  She thought the meeting was educational and inspiring.  She said she felt more motivated to do more volunteer work.  I hadn't noticed before but those meetings inspire me too.  This month the talk was about the "Recovery of the Gray Wolf."  Peggy Callahan, director of the Wildlife Science Center spoke.  She brought along one of her rescue dogs - a big, stinky black German Shepard that weighed 130 pounds.  His head was massive.  His ears were so big I could hide my fists behind each one.  Peggy says it is important to involve all the senses when you are teaching about nature.  You can't let students touch a wolf but they can touch a big German Shepard.  She talked for a while about hunting.  She told about her first hunting experience hunting grouse.  At first she shot a lot of popple.  When she got the grouse she felt a rush of emotions like sadness, elation, and humility.  In the future she hopes to see the wolf population improve to the point where wolf hunts are allowed.  Our first question was, why would somebody hunt a wolf?  To eat?  Peggy says we should hold on judging others on the reason for the hunt.  Some people hunt for food but others hunt for non-food reasons. As long as the hunt is legal, judgement should be withheld.  She also advises us to buy a hunting license.  Even if you don't hunt, buy a license.  The money from those licenses are used to purchase and improve wildlife habitat.  She told us to "Buy a hunting license" over and over and over again.  I would not mind improving the habitat for ducks or moose or bear but I think the DNR has done WAY too much improving the habitat for deer and geese.  I'll have to consider buying a hunting license.  I've bought fishing licences before but never a hunting license. She also talked about the Department of Natural Resources being a political entity.  The DNR has to listen to their boss.  She said the last time a scientist was appointed to run the DNR was during Arne Carlson's administration.  Peggy was a passionate and engaging speaker.  I enjoyed being around these tree huggers.  Someone brought in a bone she found in a tree.  We all gather around and admire the teeth marks left by some animal gnawing on the bone.  Another lady brought in a hairless rat.  Some said the hairless rat was cut.  Yeah, I don't think so.  We admire fox pictures where it looks like the fox is actually hamming it up for the camera.  These meetings are a lot of fun for me.                    

The Help

This month it was my turn to lead the book club discussion.  We chose "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.  This book has been on the best seller list for almost a year for a very good reason; it's a good book, a really good book.  This is Stockett's first novel and she started writing it the day after the 9/11 attacks in New York City, where she lived.  She wrote in the voice that comforted her as a child; the voice of her maid and nanny in Mississippi where she group up in the 1960's.  The book chapters come in three voices. Abilene is a patient and comforting maid.  Minny is a emotional and impulsive maid.  Skeeter (nickname for Eugenia) is a recent graduate of the University who can't seem to fit in at home on her parent's plantation or in town with her young, married friends or with the others in the Junior League.  Skeeter wants to be a journalist.  She gets the idea of writing from the perspective of the black maids talking about raising white children from one of the maids.  She talks Abilene into helping her with the project.  Minny and other maids help with the book.  The town of Jackson, Mississippi is on the cusp of civil rights.  The maids, more than Skeeter, risk a great deal to have their story told.  Minny risks the most of all in order to protect the rest of the group.  We had a great discussion about this book. I told them I would bring a caramel cake to the next meeting.  Caramel cake, along with other great food, is mentioned in the book.  I promised I would NOT BRING a chocolate creme pie. If you read the book, you'll know why it is not a good idea to bring a chocolate creme pie.

Black Spruce Damage

The heavy snow on Saturday broke two branches off one of my  black spruce.  The smaller branch had little pine cones on the top.  I trimmed the bottom and stuck it in a pot for winter decoration.



I trimmed the larger branch and put it in a holiday tree holder and tied it to a bluebird house.



This is the black spruce. Wind has broken the top off twice.  It has a disease called dwarf mistletoe that creates all these bundles of branches.  The mistletoe almost looks like huge nests inside the branches of the tree.



This is the base of the black spruce.  See the green lichen, pruning scars, and the muscular looking roots?  I think this tree trunk is buff.

Moving to Winter Headquarters

Here is Meredith on the left, Pam (who is moulting) in the middle for warmth, and Phyllis on the right.



From the left: Meredith, Pamela, Kelly and Phyllis



From the left:  Phyllis, Meredith and Kelly.  Pamela is hidden.



Winter HQ before the run was attached.

I had to move the chickens to their winter headquarters on Sunday.  All summer they've moved to a fresh spot of grass every week.  All that moving ended with the snow on Saturday.  I want them close to the house so I can plug in their heat lamp and heated water dish.  I have a two wheeled dolly to move the house.  I didn't want to move the coop with the chickens inside.  They, being the dainty ladies that they are, refuse to step foot in the snow.  They would not move for nothing. I looked around and found a snow free fallen limb/temporary chicken perch.  I moved each chicken, one by one, out of the house and onto their perch. Pamela was obviously moulting.  She looked pathetic and tiny with so many missing feathers.  I put her in the middle between the other chickens so she would stay warmer.  Just a few days ago the chickens were running around the yard, flying over the canoe, and full of aerobic movements.  On Sunday they perched on that branch without even turning around.  They watched me as I hauled the coop over the snow toward the garage.  I cleaned it out and added fresh wood shavings.  I had to lay on my back with my upper torso inside the chicken coop to put up the heat lamp.  Man, it was dusty in there.  I brought the chickens back to their coop one by one.  Although all three coop doors were open, they didn't even try to leave.  I thought for a minute they wouldn't need the run attached but then I remembered that the run is there to keep chickens in AND predators out. This will be their home for the next four dark months.  Egg production has really slowed down this fall.  I think only Pamela has been laying eggs for the past two months.  Now that the others have moulted and she is starting to moult, she'll won't be laying eggs for a while.  With the heat lamp on I think egg production will pick up again.

Project Feederwatch Update

Red bellied woodpecker-1, Crow-2, Blue Jay-1, Cardinal-2, Goldfinch-3, Black capped chickadee-6, Junco-3

Drive Safely

Today I took a driving class. It was one of those AARP 55 Alive driving classes.  In Minnesota, car insurance companies have to give you 10% off your car, truck, or motorcycle insurance costs if you show proof of taking the class.  I didn't have much going in November and I could use some extra money in my pocket so I thought I'd get the 8 hour class in now.  The closest one on a Saturday was at Hamline Auto Body in Lauderdale.  Although we were cramped into a tiny room I have to say Hamline Auto Body was VERY gracious and accommodating.  They offered us all kinds of refreshments and a lunch.  I imagine the entire auto repair industry was happy about the weather today.  I had to be there at 8 a.m. so I left at 7.  My road was terrible!  At least 3 inches of wet, slushy snow covered the surface.  I thought the highway would be better and it was but it was still slow going.  When I saw the third vehicle in the ditch, a white SUV with tires pointing at the sky, I thought, "How ironic would it be if I got into a car accident on my way to my safe driving class?"  Our instructor was very good.  He was engaging and informative and he didn't let some people in the class talk as much as they wanted to.  For each segment of the curriculum, he had a newspaper article illustrating the point.  He talked about car accidents or roads in Minnesota.  He really had a thing about Highway 8. He asked, "Who has taken Highway 8?"  I raised my hand.  "Why?" he asked.  I answered, "Uh, to get to Taylors Falls."  He wants us to avoid Highway 8 because there are too many accidents on that road.  He talked about the three second rule.  You should stay at least 3 seconds behind the car ahead of you.  Pick a landmark on the road like a sign or the shadow of a pole.  Start counting when the car ahead of you passes the landmark and then count, "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand."  If you get to the landmark before three one thousand, you are driving too close.  The three second rule if for ideal conditions.   On a day like today, we should be 4 or 5 seconds behind the vehicle ahead of you.  Our instructor talked a long time the blind spots on our cars and the blind spots of the cars and trucks near us.  He says left turns are more dangerous than right turns.  If we can, he suggests we take 3 right turns to avoid taking a left.  He says the highway patrol has two main driving mistakes that they especially want to ticket.  One of those if not pulling over a lane when an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder and the other one is backing up on the freeway because you missed your exit.  That happened to me once.  I was in college and the professor was taking a group of us to a school in Clear Lake. She missed the exit on Highway 94 so she backed up on the freeway.  Our instructor talked about how age affects driving ability.  Right now some states have rules for teenage drivers that say they can't drive after dark or they can have a limited number of passengers.  I wonder if there will be rules for older folks someday such as those over 90 can't drive after dark.  I thought it was a good class.