An American Summer

This book, An American Summer by Frank Deford is a classic.  If it were a work of art, it would be a masterpiece done by Norman Rockwell.  I loved every single chapter of this book.  The story is about Christy, a 14 year old on the precipice between boy and man.  Christy is a good guy and even though he lives with a loving family in the affluent suburbs of Baltimore  in 1955, he faces tough decisions.  The "good ole days" weren't all that easy.  The book is about a young man growing up but also about acceptance, honor, and love.

Disappointed

I signed up for a six hour class on Saturday. The class was led by a naturalist as we kayaked or canoed down the Mississippi from St.Cloud to Clearwater.  Doesn't that sound like a good time?  So tonight, after I took my kayak down from it's suspended storage in the garage and wiped the dust off of it, I opened an email that said the class is cancelled due to high water on the river and the forecast for rain on Saturday.  I really wish I had read that email before I took the kayak down.  Oh, well, I can still go kayaking around here somewhere.  It would have been fun to do it with a group and to also get a ride back to my car.  Paddling downstream is always easier than having to paddle back to the vehicle.

I Splurged

It's true.  I selfishly splurged on myself and bought a pair of Nikon Monarch 10x42 binoculars.  I bought them refurbished instead of new and that saved a third of the price.  I LOVE THEM!  I think I will get enough years of use out of them to make this purchase worth my while.  Looking out of these binoculars is amazing. I can see so much more detail and colors. 

Garden In (Mostly)

I spent my three day weekend working in the dirt putting the garden in.  Spading the soil, pulling weeds, making off rows, planting seeds, and planting dreams is a favorite thing for me to do because I go into a "Zen" zone out there.  Worries melt away.  Time no longer matters.  My heart rate and blood pressure go down as I bend and stoop and carry.  I didn't find any cutworms this year which was nice.  I did dig up some bright green shiny beetles and some June bugs as well; plus lots of angleworms which means I've got good soil going on.  If all goes as planned I should be able to harvest cabbage, broccoli, onions, sunflowers, garlic,  parsley, basil, chives, rhubarb, green bell and jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, white and gold potatoes, carrots, corn, tiny pumpkins and big pumpkins.  I have had problems with tomato virus in past years so this year I didn't plant any tomatoes in the big garden. All my tomatoes are in pots this year.  Now I wait for the miracle to begin.  When the first shoots come up I get so impressed, so excited to see it happen.  I planted flowers as well.  There is more to do but I have a big chunk finished and that feels great. 

So Sweet!

My next door neighbor built this low tech security system for my door.  He welded the bars and secured them to the studs with long bolts.

He put a 2x4 inside the brackets so no one will be breaking into this door again.  And it's real easy to slide the 2x4 in and out when I want to use the door.

I love my new security system. It's so "Little House On The Prairie!"   He spent about 5 minutes installing it.  I thanked him profusely and with eggs.  He said, "It's the least a veteran can do for the mother of another veteran."  And on Memorial Day too no less.  I have awesome neighbors. 

Tick Tips

 The wood ticks are out already. Many people got wood ticks at the convention last weekend.  We had so many wood ticks we started a "Tick-r-tape."  If a wood tick was found we were to stick it to a foot long, 3 inch wide strip of cellophane tape suspended from a door frame near the silent auction.  That was gross.  And who is going to carry a wood tick to the silent auction area from where ever they were when they found it?   I only looked at the tick-r-tape once but to see a dozen wood ticks suspended is nothing else but gross.  I learned that many of the master naturalists use tape to dispose of wood ticks.  Generally they fold the tape on both sides of the wood tick.  Burning ticks with matches takes too long and flushing them down the toilet wastes water so they use tape.  Another thing I learned about ticks?  If you're a woman going camping or birding or somewhere where you might gets ticks, don't shave your legs before you go.  A tick crawling over leg hairs is more easily felt than a tick on a clean shaven leg.  I learn something new every day.

I Don't Remember Growing Older

The day you get your son's wedding invitation in the mail is a very special day. Anxious to rip it open but not wanting to have this special moment outside by the mail box I bring the thick envelope inside.  I put the other mail aside.  I take off my shoes and put on my warm slippers.  I stand by the window.  I don't want anyone or anything to interrupt this moment.  The canary can sing; that is okay but I will the phone not to ring and hope no one will knock at the door.  This moment has clarity.  The evening light comes in the window at an angle.  The air smells of crab apple blossoms.  I feel like I'm in a movie.  I feel tingly and all my senses are on alert.  I tear the outer envelope open.  I can hear music playing even though no music is playing. I see his name in print in a font with lots of extra swirls and curves.  I see my name on there too.  Where has the time gone?  I certainly have had a lot of fun being a Mom.  I wouldn't have missed this role in life for the world.

Last Day of the Convention

After our bird walk we headed in for breakfast.  At each place setting was a plate, silverware, coffee cup, water glass, and an egg cup.  Call me inexperienced but I have never used an egg cup before. A platter held a dozen warm eggs.  I wasn't sure how to do this.  The people sitting near me weren't sure either. We tapped our spoon on the egg to crack the shell.  I tried to pick the shell off the upper part of the egg but that was impossible.  I took a butter knife and cut the egg in half.  I put the bottom half back in the egg cup and scooped out the top half with my spoon.  Wow, that was good.  I haven't had a soft boiled egg since I was a child.  We also had fresh baked buns, salami, swiss cheese slices, yogurt, cereal, raisins, and fresh fruit.  The food at this convention is truly outstanding.  My first class was on glacial geomorphology of the three biome intersection.  The name of the class is a mouthfull and it was a very entertaining class.  Taught by a professor from Bemidji state, the instructor was so passionate and so engaging that I felt like I could gladly go back to college again.  Where the prairie, the decidous forest, and the pine forest meet is interesting.  You can have some overlap.  Sometimes a pocket of prairie is found in the decidous forest (like Parkers Prairie).  But a praire is never found in a pine forest.  And why are the biomes arranged like they are and does it have anything to do with glaciers?  The short answer is yes but I really enjoyed learning about it.  My last class was on wolves.  A wolf expert from the DNR spoke.  He traps, tranquilizes and tracks wolves.  The newest tracking devices are interactive.  From a distance he can turn on a camera.  They're hoping to get video from inside a wolf den.  He spoke about the wolf hunt.  The legislature decreed there would be a wolf hunt.  The DNR wanted to take a wolf cencus before deciding on a hunt.  The wolf census, done every 5 years, was 3 years old when the wolf hunt happened.  But a law is a law so the wolf hunt happened. Now that Minnesotan's hunt wolf, the DNR will take a wolf census every year so they can manage the population responsibly.  I was surprised to see the wolf range extends as far south as the middle of Iowa.  A master  naturalist friend of mine swore she saw a wolf crossing a road in Ramsey on her way to work one morning.  I thought maybe she saw a dog/wolf hybrid pet but now I think she might have been right.  Most of the wolves taken have been first year males.  Like teenage boys they are reckless.  Some of these wolves might have been destined to be alpha males so we shall see how the hunt affects the wolf dynamics as the years go by.  The wolf class was over and we headed to lunch.  As we packed up to go, I was sad the conference was over.  Next year we will meet at Camp Friendship in Annandale. With four of us in the car on the way home, talking and sharing about what we had learned and discovered, the hours flew by without a single second of silence.  I had an excellent weekend.

SNAP!

I got up early on the Sunday morning to go on a birding walk.  Our birding leader suggested we practice our binocular skills every spring.  For two weeks, he said, practice your snap for 4 minutes a day with your binoculars.  The snap is looking at an object with your bare eyes and bringing the binoculars up to your face without moving so you don't have to search through the binoculars for what you were seeing.  He suggested we start with larger objects and then go to small.  Start with a car, he said, and then go to a headlight on the car.  Then move onto a moving car. After that a headlight on a moving car.  He said with two weeks of practice, we will find birding much easier.  I will  have to give this snap practice a try.  I also think I deserve a better pair of binoculars.  My Bushnell 10x42 are adequate but not real good for color and in dim light.  On our bird walk we barely moved.  From the deck of the dining hall we saw a scarlet tanager, black and white warbler, chickadees, blue jays, robins, Baltimore Orioles, goldfinches, a Palm warbler, crows, and a LeConte sparrow.

FOY Indigo Bunting

What a sight for sore eyes.  My first of the year indigo bunting perched on my deck railing and gave me a visual treat.  This blue bunting was so pretty I stopped in my tracks and didn't move until after it had flown away.

Day 2 Continued

After a delicious lunch we went on a field trip to Bemidji State Park; only five minutes away from where we were staying.

We toured a bog.  Bogs are lacking in nutrition so plants adapt by turning carnivorous.  This is a pitcher plant.

Sphagnum moss, a great insulator, is abundant on the bog and keeps things cool down below.  Even in the warmest summers, the bog down below stays in the 30's.

Even on rainy days, the bog is a beautiful place.

For the limnology section of our field trip we went out on a pontoon to learn about the lake.  The ice had finally gone out the two days before so we were lucky to be able to be on the lake at all.  Some ice remains on the shore.

After our field trip we headed back for another delicious meal. The food here is fabulous.  Tables are served family style.  Supper begins with soup. A tureen is brought to the corner of the table and the person at that seat has the job of dishing out soup and passing the bowls around until everyone has some.  Meat, potatoes, vegetables, salad and bread are passed around the tables in big platters.  Vegetarians, like me, bring our plate to the kitchen where we are served a similar meal with mock duck instead of meat.  The breads and desserts are all freshly baked.  We had some free time to visit the silent auction and the star dome.  The stardome is a gray inflated structure that looks like a kid's jumping play structure.  It had a big dome in the center and two octopus looking arms that wrapped around the sides.  A friend and I wanted to explore it.  We walked around the thing three times and could not find any door.  Someone saw our struggle and pointed out the entrance.  The entrance was folded in on itself on one of the arms.  We had to unfold it and crawl in on our hands and knees.   Air flowed past us and out the open door.  We crawled about 4 feet and it was so dark in there I could not see anything.  I sensed we were in the dome part because I had more space above me; not because I could see anything.  A little light from a projector shone in the middle of the dome part.  A disembodied voice warns, "We're laying down in here so don't step on us."  I replied, "I am on my hands and knees so you are safe."  As my eyes adjusted I could see a moon projected on the left side of the dome. My friend asked, "How many people are in here and how long have you been in here?"  Turns out there were 3 people in the dome and they weren't sure how long they had been in here.  This was becoming a far out experience for me.  The three people, one of which was a male, were talking and laughing and pointing out the big dipper.  It was totally dark in there and although it was uncomfortable to be kneeling I wasn't sure where anyone was so I didn't want to move around too much.  As the minutes passed, more and more stars became visible.  My friend and I agree to leave so we turn around and crawl out the side arm and into the bright lights of the outer room.  We burst into giggles and agree that was one of the strangest experiences we've ever had.  We meet up with some other friends to watch the common golden eyes on the lake.  We identify the long slow snore and chuckles of the leopard frogs.  The local chapter, Bogs and Logs, serves us their annual "Ice Out Ice Cream."   They use lake ice in the outer part of the churn.  I am stuffed from dinner so I turn down the mocha, banana, and cherry/chocolate freshly churned ice cream.  Back in our dorm we sit and talk for a couple hours.  My joints ache from being outside in the chilly damp weather and it feels great to lay down and rest after a great day.

Master Naturalist Conference Day 2

At the conference we found our way to the dorms in the night.  In the morning I had a chance to look around.  Although it was lightly raining, I scouted out the area and saw we had a great view of a lake.  Loons, Canadian geese, golden eye ducks and common mergansers were out on the lake.  I watched the common mergansers with my binoculars.  The male merganser followed the female and every few minutes would throw his head back as far as it would go and make a cackling noise. I think he was showing off.  At breakfast they served yogurt, cereal, raisins and croissants.  At first I turned down a croissant; too many carbs.  Then I learned they were home made croissants fresh out of the oven.   I saw people really enjoying the taste and the smell.  I changed my mind.  If I'm going to have carbs, let them be great carbs.  And my croissant was a GREAT carb.  The flaky layers melted in my mouth.  This wonderful breakfast set me up for a day of learning about nature.  My first class was about black bears on the move.  Bears with GPS collars were tracked and their movements recorded.  The next class was about wild rice.  Harvesting wild rice is an activity that is growing out of style.  Now that California grows modified rice in paddies, the price of wild rice has gone down.  The modified rice can be harvested all at one time by machinery. Natural wild rice ripens a few grains at a time.  To get all the rice, a person must return to the same patch several times.  Using a canoe, one person pushes the canoe forward with a long pole while the other one bends the rice over the boat with a stick

and taps the long grass with the other stick so only the ripe grains fall into the canoe.  The person tapping the grains wears long pants, boots, and long sleeves because the grass if full of bugs and prickly leaves.   The quality of wild rice varies.  The rice in Nett Lake (near Duluth) has extra long grains.  The other lakes have rice that is just as good in protein and taste but aren't as long. Collecting wild rice is a lot of work and fewer people are doing it.  The state keeps track of the ages and gender of those applying for wild rice licenses.  Most of the license holders are now over 60 years old.  So now I have another thing I want to try.  I want to buy a license and collect some wild rice.  I will need a partner in the canoe so let me know if you are interested.  You can propel the canoe with the push pole or you can collect the wild rice with the ricing sticks; your choice. 

Itasca State Park

On Friday afternoon we had a tour of Itasca State Park.  A naturalist named Connie showed us around. She has an enthusiastic manner of speaking and I think she could talk all day without running out of things to say.

She took us Preacher's Grove where we could see a big stand of red pines.

Some of these pines are nearly 500 years old.

We weren't allowed on the Wilderness Trail because of the high fire threats today so we stopped at the Headwaters of the Mississippi.

 

This is where the river begins as it leaves Lake Itasca.

 They say if you make a wish as you wet your feet, your wish will come true in 90 days - the time it takes a drop from this area to travel to the Gulf of Mexico.  The water was cold.  Connie told us about Mary Gibbs who was the park manager. She risked her life to save this spot from environmental degradation by the logging companies.  I'd like to read Mary Gibb's biography some day.

 

And then we went on a bog walk.

Hepatica was in bloom.

Marsh Marigold was in bloom.

Sweet colt's foot was also in bloom.

The boat is on the lake and ready for tours.

We stayed to get a look at the old timer's cabin.  Connie let us go inside.  She has met some of the CCC workers (now in their 90's) who built this cabin and other structures.  She told us some of their stories.

 

 

 

Dolphins or Mustaches or Eyebrows?

Last Friday I went to the Master Naturalist Convention and stayed all weekend. This year we were in Bemidji and stayed at the Concordia Language Camp.  I drove up with a couple master naturalist friends.  Actually rode up would be more accurate as I was a passenger.  That was fun - not to be the driver.  It allowed me to take photos of some awesome clouds just outside of Wadena.  What do you see in these clouds?  I see dolphins.  Other people see facial hair.  We drove through Menagha where the wildfires had closed the highway the day before.  On Friday the highway was open but they had warning signs about smoke possibly limiting visibility.  The fire consumed several buildings.  Some pines were burned all the way up the crown on the tree.  We stopped for lunch in Park Rapids.  We drove down the main drag where cars park in the middle of the road like they do sometimes in small towns.  We had some dietary concerns going on with me being a vegetarian and my friend needs her food to be gluten free.  We found The Good Life cafe.  If you EVER go to Park Rapids I recommend you go here for lunch. They had vegetarian.  They had gluten free.  They had the best food, plus the best service and at great prices as well.  Our waitress was so excellent she could teach a class on great service.  The food is locally grown and made from scratch.  I could hardly believe our good luck in finding this place so quickly.  Be sure to use the bathroom while you're there.  I found out later the bathroom walls were covered with old Rolling Stone magazine covers and I missed my chance to see a young John Travolta in his underwear.  After lunch we headed to our first convention activity which was a tour of Itasca State Park (more on that later).  Now that the weekend is over, I am looking forward to the next convention.  I had a great time.  I think this was my fourth convention.  The people there are so nice.  They get me.  I get them.  We think alike when it comes to conservation, ecology, and science.  We appreciate nature with a passion.  When it comes to the master naturalists, I feel I really belong to this group.  Staying at the Concordia Language Camp was like going to summer camp.  At least I think it's like summer camp; I don't really know.  I never went to summer camp.  But if summer camp is living in tight quarters in a dorm in the woods and on a lake, having great meals together in a dining hall, forming close bonds, sharing secrets late at night, sneaking a bottle of wine in, and laughing out loud many times a day, then the convention is like summer camp.

Freshly Cut Grass

With the car windows rolled down, I smelled freshly cut grass on the way home tonight.  Oh, heavenly is the smell of a freshly cut lawn.  If that smell could be bottled and included in a deodorant or shampoo, I would be a loyal customer.

The Forgotten Garden

It was unanimous, everybody in my book club liked The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  I liked it too; didn't love it but I liked it.  Kate Morton is THE author in Australia - known and loved by all.  I had never heard of her before and that is quite an honor for a 36 year old woman.  But the people in Australia, in my humble opinion, treasure literature more than we do in this country.  When I was traveling there I saw privately owned book stores on almost every other block of the major cities.  This story goes back and forth between England and Australia; the 1800's and current times.  Kate Morton loved fairy tales as a child and she incorporates them into this story as well with orphans, walled gardens, secrets, hidden treasures, and family legacies.  The first couple of chapters were hard because I couldn't keep all the characters straight but after I got through that, it was clear sailing.

A Feeling Of Community

Since the home invasion on Friday night, I've been talking more to my neighbors.  Some of them were interviewed by the police officer and came to talk to me.  Some of them weren't informed so I wanted to tell them what happened to me so they would be aware that our neighborhood is not the kind where we should leave our doors unlocked.  I found out a few things in my neighborhood discussions. One is that a surprising number of my neighbors are home during the day.  And many of them were outside on Friday.  They didn't see or hear anything suspicious with one exception. I found out that a couple boys were hanging around on the street near my house collecting money for the Anoka High School football team.  The boys were not wearing Anoka clothes and did not have any official team documents - only a plain white envelope.  One neighbor gave them $10.  This is suspicious because they weren't wearing team colors, didn't have any documents, and this isn't football season.  In May a student wouldn't even know if they were on the football team yet.  The neighbor who gave them money is planning on talking to the police about what she observed. Another thing I learned is that my neighbors care about me and are looking out for me. That feeling of community alone is worth $100.  The guy next door is going to add a cross bar to the service door of his garage.  He plans to weld a couple hooks and put a 2x4 board across the door.  He offered to build one for me as well.  I took him up on his offer and said I would give him some free range eggs in exchange.  I really feel better now.

Frog and Toad Survey #1

Four of us went on the frog and toad survey last night.  Three of us were experienced and was one a newcomer to the skill of listening in the dark, out in the middle of no where, for frogs and toads.  We heard frogs and toads at every stop.  We heard 3 species of frogs - spring peepers, chorus frogs, and one lonely wood frog.  The weather was cold but lucky for us the wind died down as the sun set and the many stars came out.  A sliver of a moon set in the middle of our survey.  At some stops the frogs would talk quite a bit and as the 5 minute listening session went on, they would become quieter or even silent.  The frogs weren't as loud as they sometimes are either.   The chorus frog sounds like a finger running up the teeth of a comb.  Because of the cold, the time between each tooth of the comb got longer and longer.  Sometimes the chorus frog would even stop before the end of the comb.  Too cold to continue I guess.   We heard barred owls at 3 of our stops.  At the 6th stop the air reeked of skunk when we got out of the car.  I tried breathing through my mouth instead of my nose and that helped or else I just got used to the stench.  We were immediately distracted from the nasty smell by the howling of a loon that sounded wolfish at first.  Three loons started calling loudly and using a variety of vocalizations.  It was crazy.  This was a very heated loon discussion that went on and on for a full 3 minutes.  By the 8th stop most of the clouds had cleared out and the sky was loaded with so many more stars than I can usually see.   So we heard frogs which was great. We also heard loons, owls and geese.  And not a single mosquito bothered us.  The roads were fairly decent. We drove through a couple soft spots but we found no frost boils.  We really missed our usual frog listening expert but we brought her photo along so she could be with us in spirit. 

My Only Witnesses

The only witnesses to my home invasion that I know of are chicken; chicken as in poultry and chicken as in lacking nerve.  My chickens are so chicken they probably wouldn't tell me what the intruder looked like if they could.  They got a good long look at him though as he broke in right by the coop.  I've changed my mind about the camera.  At first I was offended that the intruder didn't take my camera, my binoculars, my television, and some other things that could be pawned.  Now I think he came in, saw my jewelry (all costume jewelry), saw that I had no X-Box, no iPad, no blue ray player, felt sorry for me, grabbed the cash and left.  I was wondering why he chose this house.  I live in a neighborhood with some very fancy houses and mine is not one of them.  I do, however, have something very valuable and that is a private back yard.  I think that is why my house was chosen.

How Long Have You Had That Twenty Dollar Bill?

I was going to put my game camera on my deck to capture shots of the pileated woodpecker who visits every day.  Now I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wish I had done that.  When I came home from work I noticed the door to the between the inside of the garage and the house was left open slightly.  Scolding myself mentally for heating the outdoors, I brought the groceries inside.  When I went back outside to let the chickens roam I noticed a piece of wood on the floor by the service door of the garage.  I picked it up wondering where this little piece of wood, painted white on one side had come from.  It looked like it had broken off violently as the edge was very splintered. I looked up to the rafters wondering if a piece of wood trim stored up there had fallen down.  But falling would not tear up a piece of wood like this.  This piece of wood looked like a giant beaver had ripped it.  Then I saw a longer triangular shaped piece of wood, also with white trim, on the floor.  My door frame is white.  My service door, shut and locked, had been forced open splintering the wood.  Realization dawned on my from the knees on up to the brain.  Someone had broken into my house.  Crap!  I let the chickens out and went back into the house to call 911.  The operator asked if anyone was in the house now.  Crap!  Would have been a good idea for me to think of that sooner.  I wish I was better at emergencies like this.  I told her no one appeared to be in the house. She asked if I saw anything missing.  What do I think of?  My Suzuki. I run out to the garage.  No, the motorcycle is still there.  The television is still there.  My camera is lying on the kitchen counter.  I tell her I don't think anything is missing. She said a police officer would come out soon to take a report.  I call my neighbor because one of them is home most of the day.  They are sympathetic but heard nothing.  I remember I had four or five twenty dollar bills lying on my nightstand.  Those were gone.  One of my dresser drawers was pulled out and spread out on the bed.  The bedding was turned up so someone could easily see under the bed.  Obviously the intruder (or intruders) were in my bedroom.  Several drawers were open and some items were lying on the floor.  The police officer came by and took my report.  He took pictures of the broken door and the dresser.  He dusted the dresser for prints but was unable to find any because of the surface.  He looked for foot prints but the chickens leave such a mess by that back door with wood chips, spilled food, and dirt that no foot prints could be found.  The door must have been pushed in with a shoulder rather than a foot.  There are no footprints on the door and no evidence of a crowbar being used.  He said service doors are usually where homes are broken into.  He said new homes are now being built without service doors unless the homeowners request them just for security reasons.  A deadbolt is only as good as the wood it is attached to.  And the wood my deadbolt was attached to wasn't that good.  In fact you can see where one piece of wood was glued to another - and that is where it gave way.  He said in Ramsey they've had good luck solving these crimes because the electronics or jewelry are pawned.  In my case I don't think anything was pawned.  We can't go around asking people, "Do you have any twenty dollar bills?  How long have  you had it? Where did you get it?" He walked with me through the rest of the house.  He was surprised that the television wasn't taken.  He was very surprised to see the guitars and amplifiers were not taken.  He gave me some advice on getting the service door repaired and made more secure.  He said he would question the neighbors to see if they saw anything.  I asked him what age he thought the perpetrator was.  He guessed my criminal was in their 20's, probably a male.  Well, if they came looking for expensive jewelry, they came to the wrong house.  I check my jewelry stand in the bathroom.  Nothing appears to be missing.  I don't have an Ipad or a Wii.  I check for my laptop -still there.  The office doubted the criminal would return.  I told the officer that I had been planning to put a game camera on my deck to capture pictures of the woodpeckers.  I asked him wouldn't that be cool if I had done that and we could have seen a picture of the intruder.  He agreed that would have been awesome.  (Run and check if the game camera is still here - yes it is).  Whew!  Right now I am more stunned by this home invasion than angry.  And I'm a little insulted that they didn't steal my camera which was lying out on the kitchen counter. 

Peaches For Father Francis

I really wasn't sure I was going to like Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris.  The title didn't grab me. The cover didn't grab me.  What grabbed me is that it is a sequel to Chocolat.  I've never read Chocolat but I loved the movie.  So when in the book the character Vianne Rocher (played in the movie by Juliette Binoche) is wondering whether to go back to Paris and her lover, Roux, the red haired gypsy, I'm thinking, "Girl!  Get back to Paris.  Roux is Johnny Depp.  How is this even a question?"  Vianne doesn't hurry back to Johnny Depp Roux but stays in the small town to help settle a cultural crisis, increase tolerance, and charm people with her chocolates and her winning personality.  The story is complex, modern and very interesting.  I loved every single minute of this book.  As it turns out, this book is the third of a series.  I've seen the movie of the first book and read the third book.  Now I think I will go back and read the first two books because I am in love with Vianne Rocher and Johnny Depp Roux and quite a few of the other characters as well.

The Office

Tonight marks the last episode of "The Office."  Surely you've seen the comedy "mockumentary" on television?  I've enjoyed the show since it opened seven years ago.  I am going to miss my characters such as Meredith, Creed, Kevin, Pam, Toby, Jim, Andy, Angela, Stanley, Dwight and Phyllis.  The show was enjoyable while I watched it but at other times as well.  I can't think of any other show that has been discussed at work as much as "The Office."  And when things happen at work that are ungodly similar to situations on "The Office," it gives me great comic relief to share that moment with a reference to the show.  Other good shows are coming but I will miss this one.  

Boing Boing Boing

Part of me hasn't returned from Australia.  Marsupials are still on my mind.  I look out the window and see "my" herd of five white tail deer and wonder what it would be like if I had a mob of kangaroos out there instead.  What if, at sunset, a mob of kangaroos came into the yard to browse?  Would I feel as safe being out in the back yard?  There are parts of Australia that are as overcrowded with kangaroos as we are with white tailed deer.  At Canberra, for example, kangaroos are being culled.  How odd to think that in Canberra, the capitol city, the nation's iconic animal are so numerous that shooters are hired.  Kangaroos are such odd animals.  They way they hop around is amazing.  Sometimes from the corner of my eye I caught a bouncing shape going "Boing" "Boing"  "Boing" and I would get a little freaked out.  Such a huge bouncy thing! Kangaroos use their tails as a third leg in balancing when erect and also in walking slowly.  The kangaroo will rest it's weight on it's tail, step with both feet forward, move the tail ahead and repeat.  Kangaroos can store sperm until the situation is right.  When the older joey is starting to graze and only needs supplemental nursing, conception will occur with sperm that is stored in the female.  When birth occurs, the female will lick a trail so the baby joey can more easily climb into her pouch.  Once in the pouch the joey will clamp onto a nipple. The nipple swells and fills the mouth.  With that nipple the mother kangaroo feeds the joey the  thick colostrum milk.  And with the other nipple she feeds the semi-independent joey skim milk.  The same mother produces two kinds of milk for the two joeys.  That is the fact I can't get over.  Two kinds of milk produced by the same female-isn't that simple amazing?  Have kangaroos evolved beyond all other creatures on this planet for efficient rearing of the young? 

First Bike Ride of the Year (6773 miles)

I went for the first bike ride of the season.  The Suzuki started on the second try.  I slowly puttered around my neighborhood to get my motorcycle riding motor skills back into shape and then I took off down Highway 47 to St. Francis.  Oh, the purr of the engine as it slides into 5th gear, the feel of the wind rushing up my sleeves, the tink sound of the bugs as they impact on my face screen, the encouragement of the little barky dogs as I pass by, the cold spots on the road, the other motorcyclists returning my greeting, the admiring of my shadow on the boulevard as we race  north and south, the smells, the wide open sky, the leaning into the curves and remembering to put my feet down at stop signs, and the fun of riding up the curvy hill of Highway 47 as it passes over Trott Brook - it's all so lovely. I can't tell you how much fun it is.

Yard Work Today

Today the weather turned halfway decent for a change.  I got out and did as much yard work as my aching back would allow.  I turned up the soil in 1/6 of the vegetable garden.  I turned over both of my compost piles.  One of them was really gross with clusters of white maggotty worms that could really creep you out if you had a problem with that sort of thing.  Lucky for me my revulsion is short lived.  I also cut up a portion of a tree that had fallen over a path I like to keep mowed. My right bicep and tricep got a good workout on that chore.  White throated sparrows with their colorful eyebrows were flitting about on the ground peeking under the leaves.  Brown headed cowbirds sat in the tree and made that noise that sounds to me like a small pebble being dropped down a really deep well.  Hairy woodpeckers were fighting over the suet.  Just like trucks on the highway, the bigger pecker wins.  Downy's yield to Hairys.  Hairy's give way to red bellieds.  Red bellieds give way to Northern Flickers. And every pecker gives way to the Pileated.  

Cake Testing

Today I got to go to a cake testing.  Seeing how I am now the MOTG (mother of the groom) I get to go to such events as cake testings.  This one was in Wayzata.  We had two plates with six cake slices on each plates.  Between each slice was a variety of fillings; two fillings per slice.  We each got our own fork, a napkin and a glass of water.  I had a great time tasting cakes.  What is not to like?  It's cake!  Back in the good old days wedding cakes came with bride and groom figures on top.  Not any more.  Fountains are also out.  Now cakes are decorated with fresh flowers and ribbons and fondant.  Fondant looks pretty but the taste is not there.  So what's it gonna be, you ask?  Round or square?  Vanilla, chocolate, carrot, red velvet, pink velvet, butter cream frosting, or fillings of Amaretto, strawberry/banana, strawberry by itself, white chocolate, raspberry, lemon curd, vanilla bean, Bailey's, chocolate ganache, or almond?  You are just going to have to wait and find out.  Except for the red velvet cake, no artificial dyes are used in these luscious cakes.  I just had to ask what they used if they didn't used food dye.  "Luster dust," he answered, "It's made from vegetables."  Now, you see?  If I wasn't the MOTG and if I wasn't invited to a cake testing, I would NEVER have heard about luster dust.  Or was it duster lust?  No, I'm pretty sure it was luster dust (picturing some debris falling off the jacket of a peeping tom).

I Passed The Frog Quiz

Before completing the frog and toad survey in the spring, I must complete and pass the frog quiz.  The test is a stretch for me  because I'm not used to being tested on my hearing. Taking the frog quiz is like trying to sign your name with your non-dominant hand.  Each year the quiz gets a little easier.  I think this is the fourth year we've done the survey.  I passed the test on the first try and got a score of 89.  A score of 65 is passing.  For the first time I can really tell the difference between a northern leopard frog and a pickerel frog.  Both of them are a slow snore but the leopard frog does some chuckling after the snore and that is the difference.  I put off taking the test because the frog survey keeps getting delayed. Normally we would complete the first of three surveys between April 15 and 30. This year we can't even start until May 7th. The poor frogs must be freezing out there in the swamps.  Here are some website if you want to look up some frog and toad sounds:  http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/Frogquiz/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.lookup

MOTG

Earlier this year, back in March in fact, I had an "OMG" post.  Now it is okay for me to announce that I will be a MOTG or Mother of the Groom.  Happy day!  Happy Day!  I am over the moon with excitement and joy.  MOTG if part of my vocabulary now.  I can use it up to three times in a single sentence.  And I did this triple MOTG mention at Macy's department store.  "Hello, I am looking for MOTG dresses because my son is getting married and I need a MOTG dress because I will be the MOTG."

Welcome Back

Birds are returning to my yard.  The sight of them lifts my spirits.  Even though the forecast and the weather don't look much like spring, see a chipping sparrow on the deck confirms the season.  I saw a hermit thrush bopping around the blue spruce in the back yard last Saturday while I was burning some branches.  A bluebird stood proudly on the septic tank pipe.  Don't get me wrong.  I like black capped chickadees, gold finches, white breasted nuthatches and woodpeckers.  But these early birds of spring, because of their migration absence, really make me happy.  I think the juncos and common redpolls have now left to go north to the arctic circle.  I haven't seen any all week.  The pileated woodpeckers, normally more sedate and elusive, have been crying and flying around the yard attracting attention like crazy.  I think two males are after the same female and my suet holder draws in all three of them.