Tonight I took a Boomwhacker class at a local middle school which is the home of the Huskies. I think back to when I moved to this town and saw so many dog signs stuck in the very deep snow. I saw husky signs and greyhound signs and I thought people in Duluth must love dogs. Now I know the dogs are the mascots of area schools. And since the kids couldn't go to school, the school game them a sign to stick in the snow instead. My rhythm class was one hour long. I was one of four students and our teacher was wonderful. I am not going to buy a set of boomwhackers because they are plastic but I do think they are fun. Whacking plastic against a table, a chair, my head, my neck, my earrings, my nose, my neck, my shoulders, my entire outline was a fun and pleasurable experience. My left foot sounds different than my right foot. One of us would play a series of 8 notes and the rest of us would copy them. I played "Shave and a haircut, two bits." Our teacher must have been younger than us because we could all remember Mitch Miller and she couldn't. I asked if it was safe to boomwhack in the car. She said I could boomwhack safely only at red lights and while waiting for trains. The hour went by in about 5 minutes.
Today was my first day volunteering at Hawk Ridge. Everyone was friendly and polite and encouraging. I hoped to carry a hawk in a can but that opportunity came at 2:40. My shift was from 10:30 or 2:30 and I had to go. I had seen a pair of sharp shinned hawks released the day before so that was okay that I missed the chance to see a release. I was told to go and mingle with people. I can mingle. I can mingle like a pro! I mingled for four straight hours and I had a blast talking to people and learning from them. First off I saw the biology professor I met yesterday. I said "Hi. I saw you on TV last night." She laughed and said she heard about it but didn't see it herself. Being on television is one part of her job she doesn't like. All her students were gathered around her and she laughed quite often so I think she is probably a popular professor. I talked to a couple from Louisiana. They recommended I travel to Louisiana in May to see the migration. Pevito Woods near Holly Beach, Louisiana or High Island in Texas is the place to go. Birds are exhausted from flying over the Gulf of Mexico and sometimes they fall at your feet.
I talked to another couple from Little Falls, Minnesota. They live on the road going to Charles Lindberg state park. I told them about the time I took my kids fishing there and they almost caught a duck. They told me about the time they left her 90 year old parents at their home to run an errand and while they were gone the parents caught a duck with a hook in it's foot and took the hook out. She had a pair of spunky parents. This couple are now in their 90's and they have the hook on the wall in the kitchen.
One of the volunteers suggested I hand out visitor feedback cards. So I took a clipboard and a pen and some cards. People asked me if they could fill one out. I got three visitor cards filled out in an hour and that impressed the real staff.
The outhouse that got tipped over Saturday night was set upright and cleaned up nice and tidy.
I talked to a couple who live in Bloomington but are from the east coast. I mentioned I might drive out that way. They suggested I visit the CIA in Hyde Park, New York. CIA stands for culinary institute of America. If I can't get into the restaurant, at least go to the café. The food is delicious. I must visit Lake George, New York. I should go to the Corning glass factory in Corning, New York. I mentioned I wanted to go to Delaware because I have never been there. I must go to the Dupont Estate, Wilmington, and Longwood Gardens. This is the mushroom capital of the world and I should get the soup. I should go to Winterthur and take a tour. I should go to New Hope, Pennsylvania which is on the Delaware River. I must visit the Amish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I should go to Cape Henlopen in Delaware and Cape May in New Jersey. I must go to Berkeley Springs in West Virginia because I can get free spring water and take a soak in a hot tub. And I should go to Cacapon State Park because they have a new lodge with a swimming pool. And then they asked if I had heard of Skyline Drive. I said, "We are on Skyline Drive right now." They laughed and said there is another Skyline Drive in Virginia. I should also take the Blue Ridge parkway and stay at the Peeks of Otter Lodge.
I left happy and thirsty. I guess I was talking so much I forgot to drink fluids. I think I brought just the right amount of layers to wear because I was comfortable all day. Several people were frustrated that they couldn't identify hawks. I showed them my phone where I can get up to the minute results on what hawk flew by. It is better to see them but if you can't figure it out you can look up the answer on your phone.
My biggest problem all day was that my name tag kept turning upside down. I can hardly wait to go back. I really want to be there when the school buses start showing up.
The last guided hike of my day was at Bagley Nature Center. A professor named Jessica Savage gave us a talk on her phenology project using nature's notebook. If we volunteer for this project we will learn about trees such as paper birch, balsam fir, tamarack and shrubs such as red twigged dogwood. After looking down at mushrooms it felt good to look up again.
We had to guess how many of the birch leaves had turned color or fallen. How many birch fruit are up there? Less than a hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? My binoculars were in the car. A journalist from the Duluth paper had a camera with a super long lens and he wasn't even part of the master naturalist group but we may have convinced him to join. His camera found fruits we couldn't see. He was very funny and I might be in the paper tomorrow unless something more exciting happens. I also might be on the 9 p.m. Fox news or some other news show at 10. I wore so many layers today I can't even remember when I took which layers off. I started off with a winter hat and now I am wearing a sun hat. Oh well, at my age looks don't matter as much.
Bagley nature center is beautiful. That pond looks like a Monet painting. Also the mallards in the water were very distracting. Oh, a bald eagle flew by. There goes a squirrel! Focus on phenology and botany and ignore the squirrels. There is a puffball mushroom!
These are tamarack seed cones; not tamarack pollen cones. Some of the cones had needles growing out of them. A tiny tree was growing in the cone. That reminds me of an apple Offspring #2 ate on Isle Royale. The seeds inside the apple had sprouted. Nature is crazy sometimes.
The maples in the shade have less color than the maples in the sun. The color in the leaves acts like sunscreen. If I want to join this volunteer project I would inquire in the spring because it runs May through November. I would look at specific trees here at Bagley, down by the shore on the Lakewalk near the Rose garden, or at Boulder Lake Environmental learning center. Some women in the master naturalist group claim they attain total Zen mood when staring up at their ten trees at Bagley. I enjoy a total Zen mood too. Right now my neck is tired of looking up in the sky. I am going to go home and look straight ahead.
I went on a mushroom foray today at Hartley Nature Center. This little white shroom is called wolf fart. I smelled it and said, "This doesn't smell like a wolf fart." Someone asked if I had personal knowledge of how a wolf's fart smells and I had to admit I did not know what a wolf's fart smells like. I really don't want to know what a wolf's fart smells like.
This is (I'm pretty sure) a scaly photosis. I think it is adorable.
This is somebody's leg with a wine cap peeking out. Someone suggested we watch a movie called the Truffle Hunters. The movie is set in northern Italy and focuses on the relationship between the farmers and their dogs.
Wine caps are easy to cultivate. You can find them on wood chips anywhere. Be careful to pick them where you are fairly certain no one nor any animal has peed on them. To be sure they are wine caps, place them on a white piece of paper for an hour after you pick it. The spores that fall on the white paper should be lilac in color. Burgundy cap is another name for them. You could even grow them at home in the winter if your brought some wood chips into your basement and let some spores fall on the wood chips.
This is wolf's milk slime on the log just under the seed, to the left of the green moss, and under the toe of somebody's shoe. I am not sure why wolves are in so many mushroom names. I was told the more common names a mushroom has, the more common the mushroom can be found. We went on hiking through the nature center and it was after noon so I pulled a peanut butter sandwich out of my bag. I tried to eat it discretely but a young woman caught sight of me taking a bite and she said, "OMG! I thought you were eating a mushroom." I said I was eating a peanut butter on cardamom bread mushroom.
There is a guy in Minneapolis known as the Forager Chef. He would probably remember what these are. I forgot and I used my phone to take pictures and a notebook to write things down so I would not forget. We had a very young woman with Down's syndrome on our hike. She found a stick in the woods. When we stopped she used her stick to tap her father on the back of his shoe. I saw her do it and I smiled. She smiled too and did it again. I know better than to encourage her to poke people with a stick but it was funny. Her Dad didn't even notice. I assume he is used to her poking him with sticks or other objects. I am fairly certain I saw her before somewhere. Many people with Down Syndrome have bad hips so I figured if she had hike up this hill so can I.
This is called a Mario mushroom because in Europe these mushrooms are red. You can eat these if you detoxify them first. Once detoxified and fried in butter with some garlic salt they are yummy! I think I will pass on the Mario mushrooms.
This is an inky cap. Please don't use this blog to identify a mushroom and eat it! I am a novice at this. One lady found a group of really lovely mushrooms and she held them up but I didn't get a picture of them. The name of those mushrooms, we were told, was funeral bells or deadly gallerina. Yeah, do not eat those. We also found some plums and custard mushrooms which sound good but will make you sick. Don't eat plums and custard mushrooms. One lady told us her mother had a grocery paper sack full of morels from a friend. Her mother threw the morels away saying they were poison and the only mushrooms you should eat come in a plastic box from the grocery store. Her mother had a good point but I would not throw any morels away. Morels are very expensive mushrooms.
I can't remember the names of these on the flat surface of the stump but I saw a lady displaying similar mushrooms on a wooden board at the Chester Creek Bowl craft fair and she sold them for $30 each if I remember right. One person in our group used mushrooms to die fabric. Another person in the group uses mushrooms as models to make mushrooms out of clay and paint them. After this I and three other women on this mushroom foray went on a nature hike in the nature center by the University of Minnesota campus.
Today I went to Hawk Ridge in Duluth to get trained as a volunteer. In my first five minutes there I saw city police, county sheriff and college police drive by. I guess they heard gunshots before I came. Also some terribly bored person started a fire last night in the visitor's porta potty. Gross! Here are a couple sharp shinned hawks about to get released. Part of my duties might include carrying the hawks from the banding area to the releasing area. The hawks get carried in a can. These two hawks were carried in separate Pringles cans. They let the smaller male leave first so he had a head start because the female might eat him.
Today was a southern wind again. I was happy to hear volunteers are allowed to wear their binoculars.
What a great place to volunteer. I love this "office." After this I went on a mushroom hike.
I already was a big fan of the Chilean writer Isabel Allende so that is why I borrowed the audiobook of The Soul Of A Woman. After reading this book I am a bigger fan of Isabel Allende. Next I want to read her book about her daughter, Paula, who died in Isabel's arms at age 29. Isabel says she became a feminist in kindergarten when her father left the family leaving her mother to fend with three small children by herself. Isabel and I agree on just about everything in this world. Isabel now lives in California. She runs a foundation for women's rights with the royalties collected when her book about Paula was published. She wanted to keep her daughter alive and in this world in some way and this was her way of doing that for Paula.
Today I met a person named Morgan. No, not Morgan Freeman (though I would like to meet Morgan Freeman) and not J.P. Morgan. This Morgan had Morgan as a first name and his middle and last name also started with the letter M, giving him the initials MMM. Both his father and his grandfather also have the initials MMM. This Morgan was mmm good! This Morgan was 5 months old and as bald as a cue ball. This Morgan didn't have any teeth yet. This Morgan had blue eyes and his attention was drawn to loud men talking about four wheelers and hunting and football. This Morgan was alert and curious. This Morgan doesn't sleep through the night yet because he gets hungry. This Morgan is plump and he doesn't look like he ever goes hungry. This Morgan was wearing a Yoda shirt, blue jeans with pockets and purple Converse sneakers. I got to hold this Morgan for a good half hour which I loved. I love holding babies. I love feeling them squirm and stretch in my arms. I love how his heavy head bobs on his neck sometimes. I love how his little fingers pawed at my hands and tried to adjust my collar. I love how his grandma and grandpa can make him smile and giggle. I really wanted to squeeze him and kiss him and hold his little hands but I didn't because we are only distantly related and there is a pandemic on right now. Morgan was such a content and friendly little man. If all goes well he is set to graduate from high school in 2038. After 30 minutes of holding 20 pound Morgan my arms were tired but I didn't give him up until his mother asked for him back. What does the future hold for Morgan? Will Morgan play the organ? Will Morgan play in Morgan Park? Will Morgan park his Morgan three wheeler in Morgan Park? Will Morgan work for Morgan Stanley? Will Morgan attend college at Morgan State University and graduate in 2042? Unlike a lot of 5 months old on this planet, Morgan looks like he has a great start in life.
Eowyn Ivy wrote The Snow Child. I read it because it is set in Alaska on a farm which is one of the flag stops on the Alaskan railway. Mabel and Jack move to Alaska from their home on the east coast near Boston to get away from it all. They want to escape and Alaska gives them that chance. They set out farming and the first winter is hard. Jack and Mabel have to kill their chickens because they can't afford chicken feed anymore. Killing a moose is the difference between life and death for them and although moose steaks get tiresome by spring, moose steaks are better than nothing. With the help of a neighboring farm, Mabel learns to spot wild blueberries and wild cranberries that can spice up the moose steaks. The boys on the neighboring farm help Jack plow and plant his fields. Jack and Mabel are childless and this weighs heavy on their hearts. Mabel's father was a professor of literature and he often read a book to her as a child called "The Snow Child." This is a Russian fairy tale about a childless couple who make a daughter out of snow. Life is hard in Alaska. Jack and Mabel are an odd yet loving couple with terrible communication skills. For a while I forgot this was fiction and I was amazed they survived another Arctic winter. This story kept me enthralled to the very end.
I just found out about this website where you can find information about what your woods looked like in the past. You can find historical photos of your property here. You can find land survey maps here. You can find title records of your land here. For example I learned that Helary Suchy purchased 142.6 acres in Ottertail County on December 1, 1876. By clicking on patent image I can see and download the original patent. Flowery and loopy handwriting was common back then. Most millennials couldn't read a document like that anymore. Ulysses S. Grant was president of our country when my great grandfather bought his property in Ottertail County. You can also explore Native American history of your property. This is very interesting information and is likely to keep a person up all night looking around at what used to be.
Today the weather was sunny and only a slight southern breeze so I thought I would use my kayak and get a good arm workout. I have been to Woodstock Bay on the Saint Louis river twice before but I love the plastic kayak launcher. Thank you city of Superior, Wisconsin! I can get in and out of my kayak, Jeeves, so easily!
In the far distance you can see the blue bridge that is the Richard I. Bong Memorial bridge that was built in 1985. I don't want to paddle over by the shipping lanes. I can see ships are being loaded with cargo. I will stay here on the Wisconsin side where peace and quiet abounds. Belted kingfishers fly tree to tree.
This is a red pine tree that fell into the river and died. This pine must have known the end was nigh because just look at all the cones the tree produced in a frenzy to procreate. I once had a plum tree in my back yard that I thought looked ill but one summer the plum tree was loaded with plums. We ate plums. I made plum jams and jellies. I gave plum preserves away. I had plums in abundance that fall. In spring of the next year, the plum tree had died and I had to cut it down. I gave one jar of plum jam to a cantankerous neighbor. She loved plum jam with ham or lamb or some kind of meat. Those plum preserves sweetened our relationship. I am not in contact with her anymore because she moved to Texas.
And look at this grassy plant living on a snag. I admire your can-do attitude little grassy plant. Also, doesn't it look a little bit like a bird of paradise?
This white pine is leaning over the water. The balance is off and soon this tree will also fall into this bay off the Saint Louis river. The branches shimmer from the sun reflecting upwards onto the tree. Could this majestic tree be 200 years old?
In the center of the photo is evidence of something sliding into the water. The grass is all piled down and matted. The grass is bent down toward the shore. Who did this? A beaver or a river otter or a black bear or a person?
The water is like a mirror except where the whirligigs water beetles or Jesus bugs swim around in circles so fast they disturb the surface.
Look at this cute little painted turtle looking up into the sky. The sun warms the turtle's back. The carapace is so shiny it looks as if some one applied Turtle Wax! I suspect this turtle is meditating so I back away from it.
Some leaves have turned red and reflect off the water. What a perfect day to spend in my happy place.
This is my kitchen sink. I have been told it is a farm sink because it is one giant piece of porcelain. This sink must have been here for a long time because the porcelain has worn away near the drain and that spot is black instead of white. When I looked at this apartment, the farm sink called to me. After a year or so of doing dishes in this farm sink, the sparkle was gone. Here you see my sink full of dirty dishes. I made homemade pizza with cauliflower crust for supper. The dishes are clean and drying on the left side of the farm sink now. The sparkle in this sink left because the sink is so shallow I splash myself all the time. I splash my shoes. I splash on the floor. I splash on my clothes. I splash myself and the cabinet. So I named the sink Splashy McSplash Face so that I would remember to be careful. In August I had to call maintenance because the faucet was dripping. The faucet dripped intermittently and I put up with it for longer than I should have. The maintenance man came and put new washers in the faucet. This sink has no shut off valves under it. This sink is hard plumbed right into the wall. Replacing the sink would be a big job. The sink didn't drip for a full month after he put in the new washers but lately it started dripping again. Last weekend the farm sink dripped for 72 hours until I finally got it to quit dripping again. By that point I was so frustrated I quit using the sink faucet and brought hot and cold water to the kitchen from the bathroom. Yesterday the same maintenance man came again. He is a funny young man and he enjoys explaining things. I like to have things explained so we get along just fine. The poor guy had to walk 3 stories down to the basement 3 times before he got the water shut off to my sink. As it turns out the manifold that is supposed to turn off my water does turn off the cold water but not the hot water. The manifold that is supposed to turn off the downstairs apartment water turns off their cold water and my hot water. Something is screwy in the plumbing of this old house. The nice people downstairs are paying for my hot water and I am paying for their hot water. I suppose it doesn't matter too much. He guessed the owner didn't want to pay the plumbing bill to have the two water systems completely separate. I asked him why I can get hot water in the kitchen in 10 seconds but have to wait 180 seconds to get hot water in the bathroom. This guy gets all excited. He walked to the kitchen.
He says, "Say your water heater is here." He walks ten feet west. "Now the pipe tees off to another appliance." He turns and walks five feet south. "Now the pipe tees off to another appliance and another appliance." He walks 15 feet east. "The pipe tees off to the washing machine and another appliance and another appliance and then it tees off to your bathroom."
I tell him he is very good at explaining things. He said my hot water faucet was dripping because the gasket had sharp copper filings in it. Splinters of copper ruined the seal. I know that when I have my hair in my swimming goggles the goggles fill with water so I imagine it's the same idea with faucet washers. He could flush the metal filings out of the plumbing system but that would be hard because I have no shut off valves under the kitchen sink. He does not know how long this gasket will last because he doesn't know how many more filings are in the pipes.
He left. My sink works again and does not drip like a water torture during a drought. Suddenly Splashy McSplash Face is back in my favor again.
Today the amount of sunlight equals the amount of darkness. Yeah! We are half way to spring again! This afternoon I walked the Superior Hiking Trail behind my house down hill to a hardware store, a bike store and a farmer's market. I bought 2 pounds of roma tomatoes, 2 large poblano peppers and one large red onion. I roasted those vegetables in the over along with some garlic cloves, oregano, basil and salt and pepper. What I didn't eat I preserved in a glass jar with olive oil to keep in the refrigerator.
I had a nice day for a walk in the park. White throated sparrows were talking. See how the creek reflects those trees back up into the sky? A few fallen leaves dot the surface. Water is running faster now that we have had some rain in September. Last Sunday I met the man who maintains this portion of the Superior Hiking Trail. Walking the path maintained by someone you know means more than walking a path maintained by a stranger. Part of the part on my way home was being maintained by city employees. As I approached the 8th street bridge I heard machinery running. As I walked under the bridge I was passed by a young city employee walking behind a motorized wheel barrow contraption with continuous wheels like a tank. I had never seen such a thing before but I imagine it comes in handy on a trail like this one. On my walk I realized that things have changed. My trail was mostly empty. Kids are back in school. School buses pick up students. Stores are less crowded on week days compared to weekends. Most of my neighbors are gone during the day. This is finally what I thought retirement would be like!
In Alaska we went to two major museums and also some casual museums. Casual museums were the displays at the train depot or a park or the airport or in some dining establishments. The first major museum was in Anchorage. We got off the plane before lunch, took the city bus into town, got off the bus, walked a mile to a taco stand, ate outside at the taco stand, walked another half mile to the Anchorage Museum at 625 C Street. We paid our admission and stored our luggage in lockers which cost a quarter but you got the quarter back. After all that walking with a backpack and pulling a wheeling suitcase, my back still felt like I was carrying extra weight. Offspring #2 was kind enough to take some of my burden along the way and up the hills but my old bones would not forget the torment. Plus I had a delicious taco in my belly that my body was trying to digest. I was trying to adjust to the three hour time difference. I wasn't at my best at this museum which featured science, nature, native art and a planetarium. The museum was huge and it reminded me of the Science Museum in Saint Paul. I looked and I read display information and I watched video but I could tell the information was not soaking into my brain. After a few hours of walking around and trying to comprehend science and nature and native art and the night sky, I had to sit down and drink a hot cocoa for a few minutes. The gift shop was nice but like all museum gift shops the merchandise was expensive. I was in better shape for the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center on Dunkel Street in Fairbanks. This museum was close to the Chena River. This time we left our luggage at Sven's Base-Camp Hostel so we weren't carrying heavy loads as we walked. We were used to Alaska time. And we had just had delicious coffee and crepes for lunch. My head was all clogged from sleeping in the dusty tree house but my back and legs felt fine. I took Dayquil. There is no admission charge for the Morris Thompson Center. Morris Thompson was a native leader, businessman and political appointee. Morris headed the Alaska division of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1970's. He did such a good job they named a visitor center and museum after him. I learned quite a bit at this museum because my head was in a better place to accept new knowledge and ideas. I wish we had come to this museum on our way into Fairbanks or even on our way into the entire state of Alaska instead of our way out of town but I'm glad we made it here at all. We saw all the exhibits in a couple of hours and then we had to start walking back to Sven's hostel. We walked along the Chena River looking at downtown Fairbanks and watching motor boats zoom upstream and downstream. When we left the hostel it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit. By 4 p.m. it was 76 degrees Fahrenheit. We peeled off our extra layers and put our hats and mittens away. We walked through Pioneer Park which looked interesting but we had to get going. Pioneer Park reminded me of Deadwood, South Dakota or the Pioneer Park in Seattle, Washington. We walked through a residential neighborhood. We walked through some gift shops and an antique store. We walked past a dog park and an industrial neighborhood. We walked past a high school before coming back to an area with shops and restaurants. We ate at a Mexican restaurant before gathering out luggage and going home. A six day trip is not enough time to devote to such a wonderful state. I could spend an entire summer here (but never a winter). I have to say though that our trip was jam packed full of active adventure. Essentially the trip was designed for a person half my age. I managed just fine even with arthritis and even with a pandemic. What states do I have left to explore? Let me think, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and West Virginia. Sounds like a road trip east is in order!
Kim Michele Richardson wrote The Book Woman Of Troublesome Creek. As I read it the story seemed so familiar. Set in Kentucky after the great depression, woman were hired to ride horses or mules and deliver library materials to the people living in the hills outside of town. This book seemed so familiar I thought it mentioned some of the very same book women. I thought for sure this author wrote the other book I read. Turns out JoJo Mars wrote The Giver of Stars. JoJo Mars was accused of plagiarism. Both books were based on historical records in Kentucky about these brave Pack Horse librarians so anyone can see how they would be similar. I really don't know if it was coincidence or plagiarism. I liked both books. This one was from the perspective of Cussy Carter. Cussy rode an ornery mule and her nickname was Bluet. Her skin was blue or blueish in tint and that is how she got the nickname Bluet. As I understand it there is a rare congenital defect found in some people in Kentucky and also some native people in Alaska that affects their blood's ability to carry oxygen. Instead of reddish blood these people have blood that is more brown and red and it makes their skin look blueish especially when they blush or are cold or too hot. Any situation that makes my skin reddish would make Cussy's skin blueish. Cussy has a hard life. Her mother died young. Her father is a coal miner and has lung disease. She is treated by some of the townspeople as colored because her skin is not white. Her father is basically a good guy but he makes some poor decisions on her behalf. Cussy has to deal with misogynistic lechers and/or preachers who try to attack her in the woods. Cussy is a character I will remember for a long time. Cussy is a literary hero!
Ingredients: two pounds of dried northern beans, 14 cups water, 1 large onion diced (I would have used two onions but I only had one), 4 vegie brats diced, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 10 second squirt of ketchup, 1 10 second squirt of mustard, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tsp. turmeric.
Method: Rinse the beans thoroughly. Put the beans in your largest oven safe pot. Add 14 cups of water. Cover and bring to a roiling boil. Allow beans to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover the beans and wait an hour. When the hour is up add all the other ingredients to the pot of beans. Some people would use fresh water in their beans at this point but I didn't. Open your oven door and arrange the racks inside so your pot can fit into your oven. Don't do what I did and move the rack lower but kittywhampus causing bean water to spill all over the oven floor. Put the rack in straight and you won't make such a mess. Put the pot of beans into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 4 to 6 hours. Stir the beans every hour and add more water if you think the beans look dry.
This is the recipe my mother-in-law taught me. I still smile when I think about asking her about the quantity of ketchup and mustard and she answered with a loud squirt of the bottle and said, "This much." She was funny and she was a good cook. These beans are delicious but very bland for my taste. Most people like them bland but I will add hot sauce to mine.
My neighborhood had a party last night. Bright posters were put up on the telephone poles on Tenth street and Parkland Avenue giving details about the gathering. The pot luck/party started at 4 p.m. I went outside at 4 p.m. yesterday and found the party just two doors away. I brought my Corning ware container of Boston Baked Beans. Hamburgers and brats were on a grill. People brought potato salad, kale salad, pasta salad, quinoa salad, corn salad, Russian tea cakes, a home made apple pie, carrot cake, biscuits, pickles, five kinds of jelly and a black bean dish that was delicious. I met hair dressers, retired people, teachers, people who work for the DNR, people who work at colleges, people who work at Holiday Station Stores, kids of all ages and six dogs. The six dogs had a great time because at one point they were all off the leash and tearing around the crowd at top speed. I met a baby boy who weighs 20 pounds and he is only six months old. He looks like a Sumo wrestler if a Sumo wrestler wore a tie dyed onesie. I met the guy who maintains the Superior Hiking Trail behind my house. I met a guy who studies the bats in the Tower Soudan mine. He said there are bats in there that were tagged by a woman doing research since 1980. He saw a bat with a tag that was 40 years old. He gets to go into parts of the mine that the public is not allowed. He said the mine closed suddenly and with no notice. In the break room he saw coffee cups and tins of Copenhagen snuff that the miners were not allowed to go back in and retrieve. He said going in that break room was surreal because the newspaper on the break room table read December, 1962.
J.K. Rowling wrote and illustrated Tales of Beetle the Bard which is a children's book but I borrowed it any. I borrowed it as a book to listen to when I wanted to go to sleep and I made a good choice because the fairy tales did lull me to sleep when I was traveling. Each of the five stories is narrated by actors and actresses who were in the Harry Potter movies. The only thing missing in the audio book is that I could not see the illustrations that J.K. did herself.
Today was a fall festival at Hawk Ridge which is a ten minute drive straight east from my house. I went up there for a hike and I bought a couple of raffle tickets. The volunteers looked like they were having fun so I mentioned I did ask to volunteer but hadn't heard back. Maybe my email is in a cyber void. I reached out again today so we will see. I think it's a great place to volunteer especially today when the weather was warm and sunny.
A wind from the south made for muggy air but a southern breeze forces raptors to fly low to the ground. Look at this sharp shin hawk right above my head. I drew a purple box around it because it is harder to see in the picture than it was in real time standing there on the ridge with 100 other people. I saw cars from Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Texas as I walked back to my car.
Here is the hawk cropped closer. Sharp shinned hawks have a long tail because they fly through the thick forests and need the tail as a rudder to take sharp turns. Their wings beats have a pattern. The pattern is flap, flap, flap, glide. These hawks are smaller than most hawks, slightly larger than a robin, and they eat mostly song birds. Sharp Shinned hawks don't stay here for the winter. Some stay all year in southern Iowa but others migrate to central America or South America.
Yes, getting up at 5:30 a.m. was worth it. Look at the sky! I arrived at 6:40 a.m. at Wisconsin Point Parking Lot #1 and 20 people with binoculars and scopes were already there.
I stood in line next to a young woman from Madison, Wisconsin. She had come up the day before. She came to this spot at 4 p.m. yesterday. She said she threw bread at the gulls. The bread landed in the sand and the gulls gave her dirty looks and flew off without taking the bread. One of the members of Duluth Audobon threw slices of wonder bread into the water to attract the gulls which in turn attracted the jaegers. Gulls like their bread soaked in the water and not thrown in the sand. We saw 3 jaegers. In my binoculars the jaegers were the size of a speck of black pepper and I would never have known they were jaegers if the bird nerds around me hadn't told me so.
The bread worked. Much like anglers or bird nerds or politicians, the gulls flocked toward a good thing. I asked if bread was healthy for the birds. The woman from Madison said whole wheat might be a better choice. Dawn is here but the sun is not over the horizon yet. The air temperature is 45 degrees. The difference in temperatures creates a visual distortion over the water in the distance. To my right mist rises above the water. The sun will rise in 30 seconds.
Immature bald eagles and golden eagles fly above us. A merlin flew right over our heads but I didn't get a picture of it. The merlin was quick like a wizard.
We saw a single yellow headed blackbird hanging out with the red winged blackbirds. After searching the pine trees with my binoculars for 6 minutes the kind yellow headed blackbird flew right over my head. We heard Canadian goose. Just after sunrise we heard hunters shooting the geese. Why do the geese talk so much during hunting season? Keeping quiet seems more prudent.
We saw 4 sanderlingss, a Boneparte's gull, ring billed gulls, herring gulls, Sabine's gull and Franklin's gull. We saw cormorant, golden eye ducks, pintail ducks, wigeons, grackle, and northern Flickers.
So many gulls to watch I can hardly stand it.
Gulls love water soaked white bread. I hope they get nutritious food later.
Jaegerfest was great and there was no German alcohol involved! By the time I left at 9:30 there were 100 people with binoculars and scopes.
I bought this Swiss Gear back pack in 2006. This bag has been to Kenya, Seattle, San Diego, Connecticut, Sicily, Italy, Greece, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Ecuador, Michigan, Montana, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Poland, Texas, Tasmania, New Mexico, North Dakota, Finland, Florida, Alabama, Amsterdam, Australia and Alaska. I didn't take it to Isle Royale. I bought a special backpack for Isle Royale and a strap on that new backpack broke on the second day of the trip.
But my back pack is wearing out. You can see the fabric is starting to tear. That round hole at the top was the new thing in 2006 because you could thread your ear buds and listen to music playing inside your bag. I never did thread my ear buds through there but I could have.
I kept my cell phone in that tiny pocket on the strap! That was a cellphone where you had to press the 7 key four times to get the letter s.
The strap on the left partially melted when I rode my motorcycle to work. I must have hit the muffler with it before I got saddle bags. Sometimes that strap would whip my thighs in the wind and boy, howdy, that hurt. I am in the market for a new backpack now. I hope the new one lasts 15 years like this one did. So long Swiss Gear back pack. Thanks for carrying all my stuff. You were real comfy.
