Cats Make My Eyes Roll

Yesterday a coworker came into work at the verge of tears.  She heard a cat crying in the parking lot. The kitten was under ground inside the storm drain on a ledge that could not be reached. She enlisted the  help of many people who rushed out there.  I stayed at my desk practicing my virtual eye rolls.  I am not sure my virtual eye rolls are undetectable because I can only see from the inside of my face but things happen and I get lots of practice.  You can judge me all you want but the fact of the matter is I have little regard for feral cats. I have very limited regard for indoor cats too although I have had three indoor cats in my possession. The first cat came with my marriage. I attempted to like Zach the gray cat but I truly didn't. Seeing Zach lick a bowl clean would send frenzied nerves up my spine. They say he was of Russian Blue descent but I have my doubts. The second cat was Rajah, a grey and white rescue and the only reason I got that cat was to reinforce Offspring #2's assertiveness skills. From the age of three that child would politely inform me that they would really like to have a cat. They repeated that same request about once a month.  I blew off the first six requests with no problem because I really don't like cats. The child kept asking with a confidence and poise beyond their biological years. Dang it! Each request eroded my "don't like cats" resolve a bit and added to the resolve to "be a good Mom." Rajah was not the worst cat but she had medical issues and died young. Offspring #2 started the requests again and I fell for it. The third and final cat in my possession was Kovu an annoying and exceptionally loud orange long haired cat. Kovu had liver problems and also died young but before he left he reinforced the "don't like cats" resolve permanently.  Offspring #2 had plenty of assertiveness. I still have problems with cats though because a feral cat in my neighborhood chooses the sandy area below my bedroom window as it's litter box.  Nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh cat crap on a hot summer night. I witnessed that cat murder a black capped chickadee on my deck one winter. I have considered live trapping that murderous tabby and hauling it to the humane society but I can't do it. I met someone who could do it though.  Nikki is a wildlife travel guide on Kangaroo Island just south of Adelaide, Australia. She advocates for the elimination of all feral cats on her beautiful island. When she graduated from high school she worked with a local wildlife expert. She volunteered to trap feral cats, kill them, examine their stomach contents and document her findings. Her findings were cats kill lots of birds. Nikki suggested I do the same thing in Minnesota. Nikki was quite militant about feral cats. While it is true I don't like cats I don't dislike them enough to actually kill them. I can step on an ant, swat a mosquito, preserve wood ticks in duct tape and poison a mouse inside my house but I could not  and would not kill a cat. I won't even take a cat to the Humane Society where I know they will probably be killed. I suppose some of my few readers like cats and want to know how the kitty in the storm drain fared. After much drama and tears and discussion and time, the critter was nabbed with a set of tongs and taken to a good home. (eye roll!)

Suddenly Feeling Less Frustrated with Chasing My Chickens

The city police put this picture up on Facebook today as a lost pet.  Usually they post dogs that are lost or have strayed from their homes.  Can you imagine trying to capture a peacock? Would their long tails make them easier or harder to catch? I would guess they can run faster than chickens.  Peacocks can fly and chickens really can't. I think I would rather catch a chicken than a peacock.

Unwanted, Uninvited and Rude!

I had an unwanted, uninvited and rude visitor.  I don't know how long it has been visiting the top of my left wrist but now my evening will involve a trip to urgent care. I thought it was a grain of coffee at first.  Grains of coffee flick off with a finger.  This one was biting me so no amount of flicking moved it. It was so small I couldn't believe it was a tick at first.  My magnifying glasses didn't help at first but eventually I saw a tiny leg. I put the tick in a piece of tape inside an envelope. Now I have ticker tape. The CDC website recommends seeing a doctor.  The nurse line advised me to see a doctor.  So I guess I will see a doctor. I know they're going to ask me, "How long has it been on there?" I use so much of my limited amount of patience to honestly answer that I don't know instead of saying, "Well, I saw the little feller bit me last week Thursday about 7:30 p.m. but I decided to let it stay on there just in case it was hungry."  The question to me, as a possible Lyme Disease patient is as ridiculous as "Where did you leave it?" is to someone who has lost their phone.

Vlog Subscriber #1

Vlog is a video blog  popular on You Tube and possibly a quick way to become a millionaire. Think of it. No commute. No need to be prompt. No need to request days off. No more waiting for the clock to come around to 4 p.m. Also, no steady paycheck which is something I have always enjoyed very much and why I have kept to traditional jobs. In any case, a vlogger might be equivalent to corporate manager which is why I have subscribed to Wilson of the North.  This guy might be on to something.

Ephemeral Geology

Last night a group of us went to a master naturalist group class on geology taught by a geologist who is surveying the rocks in Minnesota. Each group in her office is divided up by the age of the rocks and her specialty are the really old rocks such as agates and volcanic rocks.  She was fascinating. Not only a great speaker she had enthusiasm and passion. Lava, magma, basalt, all that geology stuff is fascinating when I hear it but it just doesn't stay in the old brain pan. My knowledge of geology dissipates into thin air within ten days much like an ephemeral pond in the spring. Rocks are solid things.  Agates are especially solid. Agates are more solid and longer lasting than the basalt in which they are conceived. But I can't keep them in my head. Agates are formed in basalt. Basalt is a volcanic rock.  How many times have I heard that?  Many! Yet each time I am told basic geology facts my mind says, "Really?  Far out!"  Continental drift? I love that idea especially since I stood at the top of the rift valley in Africa and surveyed the wonder.  If you think about it, if the Rocky Mountains hadn't protruded upwards, Minnesota could be a state with an Atlantic shore. I would love that.  I love lake Superior but the Atlantic? We could be the new Maine. 

Happy Solstice!

This is my favorite tilt around the sun.

Mary Jo from Rice

I saw a brown thrasher.  A smaller brown bird they're really not much to see but they are a lovely shade of reddish brown. Every time I see a brown thrasher I think of a college friend I had in the summer on 1976.  Her name was Mary Jo and she lived in Rice on her family farm. I had a really good biology professor that summer who's passion for his topic came out strongly in his voice when speaking of the brown thrasher.  "A brown thrasher," he professed with extra enthusiasm, "is the EXACT SAME shade of reddish brown as Mary Jo's pants."

Red-spotted Purple Butterflies

This beautiful, deck-loving yet camera shy butterfly showed up on my deck yesterday.  I thought it could be a black swallowtail but it lacked the swallow tails. These red-spotted purple butterflies don't dainty dine on flower tops or milkweed plants. These beauties eat rotting fruit, rotting animals and the sap of trees. They lay their eggs on willow trees and black cherry trees.  I have black cherry trees. What a gift this butterfly turned out to be. Surely karma brought it to my deck when I happened to look out.

I Wish We Had More Muckrakers

I haven't watched much television news lately. I get upset with the manner news casters sensationalize information. I get a little crazy with it. The other day I turned off the morning news after I shouted out loud at a weather forecaster, "You fear mongerer!" I don't want to be the kind of person who shouts at the television set. What happened to Walter Cronkite? Can't he come back again because that would be so nice to see Walter on my television set. He could be dead and I don't want to see that but I would like to see another journalist LIKE Walter Cronkite. Walter had a round face, shaggy eyebrows, a white mustache and before he left every night he would say, "And that is the way it is." I don't see any news caster now that even comes close to Walter. The news these days is upsetting because it is also presented in a way that stokes fear. I decided to console myself with historical fiction about American politics. The book is working for me.  I'm not even half way through so I can't review it here yet. The book has helped me stop focusing on who tweeted what and take a longer view. The times 110 years ago were unsettled like they are now.  Our country seemed to be going through a metamorphosis like it is now. What helped our nation back then were the muckrakers. American muckrakers did investigative writing that uncovered the greed, the dirty tricks, monopolies, and the scandalous practices that kept the poor poor and the rich rich  Muckrakers came in response to the yellow journalism that exaggerated facts - much like the fake news we have today. I believe what will help our country survive the upcoming metamorphosis is journalism. Muckrakers is a term that sounds like an insult but actually a good thing. We need muckrakers like Ida Tarbell pictured below.

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Is This A Black and Blue World?

As I drove Offspring #2 to the airport this morning she said she likes the way I leap ahead with my words when I talk.  I had no idea what she meant. So she explained that when I hesitate between words she thinks I am editing out the profanity. I do that.  Sometimes, yes I do think a vulgarity but keep it to myself.  I am way more profane in my thoughts than in my words.  But in this case my hesitation wasn't to allow time for the vulgar word not to be spoken.  This time I hesitated because I was gathering my thoughts.  The sentence I said was, "Some people cannot understand that you can support (pause) blue lives matter and (pause) black lives matter.  This is not a (pause) black and blue world."

The Underground Railroad

The great thing about being in a book club is that you read books you would not normally read.  My book club chose The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. This was a hard book to read.  The suffering of American slaves is painful.  Our own country treated people like this? Dairy cows have it so nice in comparison.  No animal would be treated now like these slaves were treated because our society frowns on animal abuse.  I know people who can't comprehend the idea of white privilege.  If you don't understand white privilege, read The Underground Railroad and I think you will understand. Human trafficking still goes on every day even in our own community. But the problem is more isolated and not sanctioned by states and law enforcement anymore. People in my book club are generally well read.  Other books were suggested. I will try to read them because I feel it is my duty as a citizen of this country to read them but I will have to pace myself. I can stomach only so much suffering at a time. Those books include The Half Never Been Told by Edward Baptiste and Slaves In The Family by Edward Ball.The discussion we had about this book was highly stimulating and thought provoking. I walked out of this group on Tuesday night feeling more hope for the future. Overall our nation is in a powerful and irreversible trend of recognizing the value and worth of each and every citizen.  

Am I Addicted?

Watching the television show on Sunday called Sixty Minutes they had an article claiming Facebook (FB) is addicting. As a FB user, skepticism rose up inside me and came unwittingly and verbally out of my mouth, "Noooooo!" The speaker went on to say people get addicted to the "likes."  When you post a comment or a photo, people can like it with a thumbs up emoticon, a heart emoticon, a wow emoticon, a "ha ha" emoticon, an angry emoticon or a sad emoticon. (Side note and entirely unrelated, a recent photo of newborn feet I posted got 41 likes). Your feed tells you how many emoticons you get and how many comments you get. People can write comments on your picture or your post. In the comments they can post another picture or write stuff or write other people's name which tags them. When you get tagged you get a notice where someone wrote your name. The Sixty Minutes show claimed people log into FB many, many times a day to count their likes, their comments and if they have been tagged. Psychologically, FB has triggered a need in our brains that we didn't know was there until after FB started. I have friends who ask me to email me photos from my travels. Seriously? I tell them to join FB. I don't want to spend my vacation sending individual emails of photos.  Some friends I do send photos because they're not on FB but they are very very special friends and not many. I came closer to agreement that FB could be addicting yesterday.  Yesterday I had quite the day.  I almost hit 6 deer on the way to work.  Only 3 deer were involved but they tried to cross in front of me twice and 3 x 2 = 6.  After that I saw a Ramsey Police Department posting of a terrier mix dog found at the very intersection where I live.  A terrier!  Terriers are hunting dogs, right?  I have chickens outside. The terrier could be terrorizing them! Dog gone terrier!!!!!  What could I do about it?  I was at work!  I could call a neighbor. They would be happy to check on them.  But what are they going to do?  Repair the chicken coop, offer first aid to all the live chickens, catch them and offer counseling until I get home?  No, they're not going to do all that.  What happened has happened. Let it go. Relax.  It is entirely possible that the terrier didn't notice the flock of 7 chickens.  Can I let it go?  No, I can not let it go. The idea of that dog gone terrier was terrorizing me. I text my neighbor. She's not home. She is in Bloomington. Her husband will be home in an hour. Her husband checks on my chickens. I get word that the chickens are fine. While on one level I am happy to hear that I am upset with myself for ruining my day over an event that didn't even happen! For me on this day, looking at FB was not good. Good things happen on FB too.  I see photos that are super cute. I learn about family and friends. I feel closer to some people because of FB. I know now to keep a healthy distance from others. A legendary family story of a pet owl comes out with new details - it actually flew around inside the house!  Today I saw a video of my grand daughter singing Winkle Winkle Little Star to her sister.  Awww FB, I wish I knew how to quit you.

Bumpy!

Outside my office is a parking lot. I noticed on Monday morning that speed bumps were installed.  Drivers were not stopping at the stop sign at the end of the lane.  It was dangerous. We proposed adding flashing lights to the stop sign but research says people ignore stop signs with and without flashing lights.  So they put in speed bumps. One of the speed bumps is right outside my window. I haven't driven over it yet but people say it is a high bump.  I would say so! I have seen cars go over that thing and I think the driver put a dent in the roof with her head.  I saw a baby just about fly out of a stroller and the parent stopped to check to see if the baby was okay.  I saw a woman who used a walker get stuck on the bump and her companion had to help her out. I saw the Transit Link vehicle bounce on that bump.  Most entertaining of all was the Metro Transit city bus!  Wow!  Those buses can really bounce. I had no idea how much a bus can bounce. Today I saw another city bus take that bump so slowly it actually stopped at the apex and had to give it some gas to go down again. From my comments you might think I spend all day looking out the window.  I don't.  I am working as hard as ever.  These are things I see out of the corner of my eye or while walking to and from my car.

Steward

I try to be a good steward of my property. I spend time on the yard.  I got rid of way too much mowed lawn and tried to establish a little prairie and create a more natural acreage where wildlife would feel welcome.  Lately I have felt defeated about my choices.  Amur maple seedlings number in the thousands. Buck thorn trees are fewer but I still have plenty.  Most discouraging of all is the garlic mustard that took over in the exact same spot I removed the buck thorn.  Oh, the irony; the back breaking irony.  I pull garlic mustard every week and fill my garbage container to the top.  I carry armfuls of the strangely delicious smelling invasive plant to the trash container.  I have to sternly tell myself not to look around.  Look at your feet.  Do not look at the garlic mustard. Internal dialogues rule my day. Yes, there is more garlic mustard but your container is full so stop looking! This week I even had the thought that I should hire a bulldozer (only if they let me drive!) and start all over. I could flag some trees and the rest could be scraped and I could start over.  Today that thought changed. I have heard a bird this week and wondered what it was.  I should know this bird song. I have heard it before. "Teacher teacher teacher" or is it only wishful thinking? I thought, maybe, if I'm lucky, it could be an ovenbird. My ears are still not adjusted from Sicilian birds to Minnesota birds.  Today, as the bird was singing, I played a you tube video of an ovenbird.  The outside ovenbird was singing to the you tube ovenbird. It was confusing at first but I have total control of the you tube ovenbird. It IS an oven bird singing in my very own back yard. What!  I know oven birds. With their racing stripe of red on their head, they only stay in large tracts of forest. Large tracts; not scattered tracts of forest. Oven birds don't care except they want acres and acres of forest. Oven birds don't know buck thorn is an invasive species. Strange little warblers who make oven shaped nests on the ground where the chipmunks can get them, oven birds are a declining species. I have an oven bird singing in my yard so maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right! The oven bird made me feel better about my choices.  Here is a video from birdchick; a Minneapolis birder:

Third and Final Marsh Bird Survey

Last night we got skunked on our marsh bird survey because we saw or heard zero bitterns, rails or grebes.  I can't say we didn't see marsh birds because any bird in a marsh could, by definition, be a marsh bird.  We had red winged blackbirds, starlings, crows, blue jays, robins, a bald eagle, tree swallows, purple martin, gold finches, sand hill cranes, mallards, wood ducks, and possibly a brown thrasher. And frogs! Cope's gray tree frogs and green frogs were croaking in the marsh.  My guess is the bitterns, rails and possibly the grebes heard us but didn't answer because they are sitting on eggs or raising their brood.   We have heard sora rails and Virginia rails in these wetlands before. Part of the method of this survey is playing an 11 minute recording.  The first 5 minutes are silence and the next 6 are the sounds of bitterns, rails and grebes.  Sometimes we stand by pastures with horses.  Once the sounds of the bitterns, rails and grebes comes out of the speaker the horses swing their heads sharply toward us and look at us in amazement.  Actually, it's comical to see a horse pondering what I am doing. Sometimes they look at us so long and intently I feel like I am under a microscope. Despite the uncomfortable scrutiny of the horses, it was fun to stand outside by marshes and let the summer evening tick by.

Flower Garden

Pretty flowers in the yard. I give them water to prepare them for a hot summer day.

Yellow iris.

Other irises

I have had this plant for at least 10 years.  I can't remember the name of it but they sure are pretty one week a year.

Love the shiny leaves on the asparagus fern.

This chive flower is beautiful and edible!

I bought this one through a school fundraiser.

Iris from my Grandpa!

This is a peony. The accent is on the middle syllable.  It's pee-OH-knee; not PEE-oh-knee.  I am militant about the pronunciation of peony.

I am militant because, on several occasions, while camping or when I trekked too far out into nature, I had the unfortunate experience of getting pee on my knee (the back of my knee). I do not want to think of that when I look at this handsome flower!

Geranium and German ivy.

I would like to transplant this cactus into the yard but how?  Ouch!

So far the pineapple top I planted shows no signs of resuming life again. This situations means I have the potential to let garbage, or maybe compost, sit on display for a month or so. Time will tell!

Black Walnut Flowers

Now is the time when the walnut tree by my front door drops flowers.  The caterpillar shaped flowers cover my sidewalk.  I can sweep and the sidewalk is covered again in 12 hours. I sweep them so they stay out of the house. These flowers cling to my shoes and get all over the place. If I leave them on the sidewalk they eventually stain the cement a brown color.  While I like the smell of black walnuts, black walnut husks, black walnut leaves and black walnut trees in general, the smell of black walnut flowers resting on top of my rain barrel makes the water smell dank and nasty.

All Of Us and Everything

I have this habit of choosing books from the library shelf that the librarian has set upright and sideways.  All of Us and Everything by Bridget Asher was standing sideways on the shelf and my book selecting process struck gold again. The book is mainly about a woman and her three daughters plus one granddaughter. The Rockwells were not the typical family. There are men in the story but this is a woman's book. The main theme is personal honesty and since honesty is so important to these woman it explains their communication style. The way these women talk to each other! I am known for my bluntness from time to time but I am nothing like the women in this family.  If blunt is to subtle like a big bite of a peanut butter sandwich is to a nibble of a peanut butter sandwich, the women in this book stuff their mouths with three peanut butter sandwiches and swallow them without chewing. The thing is, a person can be blunt and still not be honest.  I was sad to come to the end of this book. To be frank, some of the funny scenes, I suspect, were written for the movie version. I don't know if there is a movie version of the book coming out but if there is the props department has a lot of work to do.

Justine/Janine

I have had dealings this spring with a woman named Janine.  Janine is a person I need to complete something very important in my life. I used to deal with someone else on this issue but this year its Janine. Oh, Janine.  You have been less than helpful.  Your instructions send me to websites that don't work.  Your instructions are written so poorly I have to read them six times to understand.  What I could get done last year in a single email takes me 20 emails and hours on the freaking internet.  Janine blows me off when I question her. I amp up on the assertiveness with every email hoping to get through to Janine.  As it turns out, assertiveness and persistence work. Yeah for that fact! As you can expect Janine has been on my mind.  Finally, today I got through to Janine and everything is fine.  I actually spoke to her in person. Turns out Janine sounds pretty nice (if you ignore the fact she blew off six or seven of my emails).  When I think of Janine I think of an old episode of the Cosby show.  I know Bill is on trial for terrible mistakes, and it's Justine not Janine, but the emotion expressed from minute 3 to the end of this video is how I felt.

Red Cabbage

Mathematically beautiful and delicious, red cabbage has anti-cancer properties. Eaten raw and chopped in rush hour traffic through Coon Rapids on the way home from work, red cabbage is the snack that makes you live longer.  Delicious too!

Way Hay And Up She Rises!

For some reason unknown to me this particular song came up on two separate days this past weekend, with two separate branches of my family tree, in two separate cities (Saint Paul and Mora).  Why?  I do not know why.  Weird coincidence I guess. But I believe the songs bears listening.  I can't post it on Facebook #notpcfornavymoms

Water Kefir

My last trip to Sicily was more about family than tourism but it was also about fermenting.  I got a lesson in fermenting.  I already made my own yogurt and my own  Greek yogurt (regular yogurt drained of the whey in cheesecloth).  But, I did not know that unpasteurized milk from Italian cows could make such a delicious product. I have not been interested in unpasteurized milk before but now I am.  I even asked Offspring #1, "Do you KNOW how lucky you are to have this yogurt available to you?"  He does know.  I am happy to announce that he's a very lucky man.  I also learned about sourdough bread. I had made Friendship bread in the past so I was somewhat familiar. A few days before my second grandchild arrived I was asked, "Can you keep the fermenting going when we are at the hospital?"  My heart swelled. I would do many things to be helpful during this birth up to but not quite the point of amputating toes. I kept the fermenting going.  The kamboucha could wait until they were back.  Kamboucha is a fermented drink, full of probiotics and totally good for you plus it has a slightly vinegar taste. I worked on the milk kefir and the water kefir.  I was happy to do it.  Plus, by the way, water kefir is delicious!  Naturally carbonated and fruity and sweet - heck yes, I will make that. I took some home in my suitcase.  I got through customs.  Don't offer information that is not asked! Milk kefir is also delicious but has more calories so I was more enthralled with the water kefir.  Plus, when I ask my two year old granddaughter what she wants to drink with breakfast and she says, with her two year old mouth and two year old understanding, "milk kefir?"  I just want to take a mental picture of this moment and keep it forever.

Water kefir is kept at room temperature for 24 hours. Under this tie dyed cloth is a glass jar with 4 cups of sugary water (plus a  quarter teaspoon of molasses) and the water kefir grains. The grains are a live being composed of bacteria and yeast.  The cloth keeps them out of the sun.

Each batch makes 4 cups of kefir.  Using glass or plastic is good.  Metal is not good for the grains.  Grains are fussy.  Grains don't like metal or fruit or coldness or heat. Grains have a small comfort zone. You might be able to see the grains at the bottom of this vase. I put a rubber band around a piece of painter tape that marks the four cup level.  The sugary mixture has to be heated to dissolve the sugars but must cool before you use it. Hot water would kill the grains.  My grains are doing well.  My grains have multiplied.  I started with 1/4 cup of grains and now I'm up to 1/2 cup.  Now I can give 1/4 cup of grains to a sibling so she can get started fermenting water kefir.  Actually, I need to dial back on my enthusiasm because I have four people waiting for water kefir grains.

I am proud of my water kefir grains.

After 24 hours of fermenting you strain the liquid to keep the grains out and put the liquid in beer bottles with flavor for another 24 hours.  My daughter in law says I am more adventurous than her.  I have made many flavors including cherry/basil, lime ginger, lime cinnamon, lemon ginger, lemon basil, blueberry cinnamon, and, my very favorite so far tangerine/cinnamon.  By the way, cinnamon sticks swell up and unroll when they get wet making them freaking hard to remove from a beer bottle.  I can tell you seven ways that don't work to remove a cinnamon stick from a beer bottle and one that does work (long knitting needle).  Also, put cinnamon sticks into a plastic bag and they splinter into smaller units that can pour out of a beer bottle without 20 minutes of concentrated work.  Never knew that before. Live and learn. She uses more juices available in Italy such as peach, orange, pineapple, strawberry, pears, cactus fruit and watermelon. Sometimes, if you do it right, and I have done it right, your hair will blow back from your face when you open the top of the beer bottle and the liquid will spray out.  Cooking with a tad of danger?  What could be better!!!  Fermenting has opened up a whole new way of life!  Do I feel better after drinking this magic liquid for the past 6 weeks? Yes, a little bit better.  For more information go to culturesforhealth.com/learn/water-kefir/water-kefir-frequently-asked-questions-faq/

Turtles On The Move!

Today on our walk around noon near Laddie Lake we saw a huge snapping turtle laying eggs.  Huge. It was huge.  The head, neck and part of the shell of this mother turtle was above the asphalt path while she laid her eggs.  Huge.  This is not something a person sees everyday. The last time I saw a turtle laying eggs was when we stayed in a turquoise mobile home on Block Lake-way more than 50 years ago. And that one was bigger than this one but this one was huge.

No Words Needed - Grandpa Stenger's Iris Bulbs

Frog & Toad Route #2

Last night 3 of us embarked on this volunteer survey of hopping reptiles.  I was a little worried this trip would not have good karma.  On Highway 169, before I reached Zimmerman, an adventurous snapping turtle was heading east.  This turtle had already crossed the south bound lanes and was on the final lane of the northbound lanes when a pick up truck went over it.  The turtle survived.  The next car, a yellow Honda Fit built closer to the ground, less than turtle height to be exact, hit that turtle with an unforgettable sound and surely much physical damage.  What evasive measures can one take at 67 miles per hour? Sorry snapping turtle.  So sorry.  We arrived at the first stop of our route around sunset.  The wind was absent. The sky was mostly clear.  The long rays of the sun painted the cotton ball clouds in pink, purple and grey.  No painter could do justice to this sky on this night.  On our route the gray tree frogs were screaming.  Wow, so loud. So loud a person could not sleep.  Next most common reptile were the American toads with their long, musical trill.  Some spring peepers were still peeping.  The temperature of the water was around 70 degrees but the peepers kept at it. Green frogs, with their classical loose banjo string sound, were heard when the stop had deeper water.  We had 10 stops and heard green frogs at three of them.  At one stop we heard our fifth species, the mink frog. On top of that we had a display of fireflies, the sighting on an owl swooping down on it's prey, many deer sighting (glad they were only sightings.  I'd rather hit a snapper than a deer), the sound of veery calling, the sound of feathers going through a snipe tail, and, best of all, the sky dance of the woodcock.  Wow.  What a night.  Yeah, there were geese and red wing blackbirds and coyotes too.  At stop #8 we heard the woodcock peenting.  I, in my enthusiasm of nature, proceeded to do an interpretive dance of the walk of a woodcock.  My sister imitated a semipalmated plover.  The third person (who is historically lacking in enthusiasm), says, "Stop. Stop right now." Aw, shucks. We were just about to demonstrate the sand hill crane dance.  We stopped.  No means no.  The moon is about half full but almost bright enough to document our results without a head lamp. The mosquitoes were there but not that bad. What a beautiful night! 

50% Success

Way back in April (seems so long ago) I took a hydroponics class.  The teacher focused on a 10 container 10 gallon tote. He also told us about 5 gallon buckets for bigger plants like tomatoes.  Tomatoes are my, most, all time, ultimate favorite food so I went with that and bought 3 5 gallon buckets from Menards.

I saved big money at Menards!  He didn't tell us how to cut the hole for the basket of perlite that holds the tomato plant so I had to figure that out myself.  (Hint: steak knife).  I bought some baskets at Midwest Supply in Saint Louis Park and as soon as I arrived home from Sicily I bought some tomato plants.  I handled the plants roughly to get the soil off the roots and planted them in perlite and set them in the bucket spiced with hydroponic fertilizer.  Cherry tomatoes, here I come. These 3 plants are doing great.

Our instructor spent most of his time talking about raising microgreens. I had a 10 gallon tote with ten holes for 10 baskets.  I planted kale, arugula, parsley, basil, spinach and cilantro in these tiny pots full of perlite.  I spritzed them and babied them.  Last weekend I planted them outside.

Remember last weekend?  Unlike this weekend it was cool, cloudy, windy and unsuitable for planting tiny seedlings outside.  Gardening enthusiasm warped my perception. All my tiny plants died.  I will start over. At least the tomato plants are making it!  If I had my druthers, I would always choose tomatoes over greens anyway

Walking Across That Stage Praying Not To Trip

Last night a member of my family walked across the stage for his high school diploma.  This was a typical graduation ceremony with the reading aloud of many, many names. This class was over 600. By the time they got to the V names I think people were clapping because we were coming to the end of the alphabet.  This class had a lot of last names like Vang and Xiong so we had a long long way to go. One of the graduating class had tragically been killed the night before in a motorcycle accident so this ceremony was shaded by grief.  The kid's nickname was Duck so quite a few mortar boards had rubber ducks attached.  His seat was decorated with his cap and his gown and several rubber ducks.  One graduate made a big show of holding up a rubber duck and placing it on a pedestal on the stage.  The father of this graduate mentioned he graduated 30 years ago in this very same auditorium.  If that is true, that means my own graduation was 45 years ago?  Could I truly be so old to have been graduated for 45 years?  My ceremony was not in this room.My ceremony was in a football field.  Our mortar boards were not decorated. We had to return our square hats or lose our deposit. We bounced beach balls around during the speeches.  I was nervous that I would trip on the stage.  I got that way after I saw a girl trip on the stage.  I think her last name started with a C. So by the time they called my name, in the late S's, I was worked up into a nervous lather. Breathing shallow breaths I walked across the stage and down the steps. I didn't trip though.  Later, diploma in hand and nervousness fading, I noticed some graduates had bottles under their sleeves and were imbibing alcohol.  I was shocked and disappointed.  Shocked because they had the nerve to do that.  Disappointed that I wasn't offered any. I doubt I would have accepted any but I would have really liked the opportunity to turn it down.  What do kids think about during their graduation ceremony?  And how does that differ from attending one 45 years later? The clapping made it difficult to hear last night.  One young mentions she is going to major in finance. My sibling whispers, "Did she say she is going to major in violence?"  I can't answer right away because that struck me extremely funny.  Later I think I hear a speaker talk about twitter and dildo.  I ask my sibling if she said dildo.  "YOLO," she tells me, "You only live once." That answers my question.  There is a difference in thoughts between a new high school graduate and a graduate with more life experience.

Be Frank With Me

This darling little book named Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson was a joy to read. The main character is Alice.  Alice is in her 20's and she works for a publisher.  The publisher sends her from New York to California to support a writer who is past her deadline on the book she is supposed to be writing.  Frank is the author's son and Alice spends most of her time caring for 9 year old Frank.  Frank is a joy to be with.  He likes to dress up in clothes from old films.  From argyle socks to zoot suits to fedoras, Frank does not fit in well with the other t shirted kids at school. Frank can get overwhelmed to the point of lying on the ground unable to move or speak but he can also handle other very challenging scenes with less trouble than the average well-adjusted adult.  Alice is young and unsure of her role. Frank's mother, the author, is a prickly person who keeps calling her by the wrong name. Alice corrects her every time.  Like me, Alice can spend much time and care to not make a mistake that ironically ends up happening because of her actions. I really enjoyed how up front she is during her internal monologues.  I hated to see this book come to an end.

Reincarnation Center

Yesterday I went for a walk in a park at lunch time. The sky was blue.  The trees and grass were intensely green. The birds were singing. The air smelled as sweet, well, I was going to say perfume but I don't like the smell of perfume so as sweet as the smell of lilac blossoms, iris blossoms and dogwood blossoms mixed with the scent of air floating across a shallow lake.  In other words the world was lovely.  I asked my companion, "Isn't this nice?  Can you think of one more thing that would make this a better moment?"  As I say those words I see to the right of the path a brilliant orange monarch fluttering around like a beautiful orange fairy. My first monarch spotting of the year!  The fact that it came into view at this particular moment seems divine. I wonder why I study nature so carefully.  Now that the kids are out of the nest, I spend more time observing birds and butterflies and flowers and shrubs.  What is the point?  Why is it important to me to know the life cycle of a monarch butterfly? What do I gain from satisfying that particular curiosity itch? Today I was reading another tree-hugger's blog, Dan Tallman's  and I found out why it is important to study nature. Think about the end of your life.  None of us know for sure what comes next.  We have our beliefs. Beliefs are might strong things but nothing makes one person's belief better than another person's belief.  If my Google search is correct, more than half the world's population believes in reincarnation.  From Socrates and Plato, to people who live in India, to Inuit's in North America, reincarnation is most likely in their future.  If more than half the world believes in reincarnation it seems logical that reincarnation is a possibility. So start studying nature now because if there is a choice, it will be good to know what you're getting into in your next life.  Good think I read that blog. If you're not careful and if there is a reincarnation center where you get a choice, you could choose to be a snail killing fly.  Or a slug. I would choose something with wings but not a snail killing fly.