New Connections In My Brain

Last night was my first Master Naturalist class. After we all signed in and had our "ice breaking activity," we learned that we are in the Master Naturalist class, not the naturist class. A naturalist is someone who studies or explains nature. A naturist is someone who likes to be outdoors without any clothes on-definitely not my style. So I'm glad I signed up for the right thing. The other 13 people in the class are very interesting. Some are already working on environmental jobs, others are in sales, city planning, aviation, pathology, epidemiology, law, etc. One guy is a student. The topics we covered were hard for me - continential glaciers versus alpine glaciers, Minnesota's three biomes, ecology, photosynthesis, plant respiration, the carbon cycle, the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, food webs, how the deer and human population in MN has doubled since the 1930's, energy transferrence, the effect of climate on species diversity, invasive species, producers, primary consumers, tertiary consumers, how many acres of grass it takes to sustain one predator. We had an interesting discussion about buckthorn and why it is considered an invasive species versus a new plant coming into this biome and isn't that judgement call, etc. The two and a half hours just flew by. I have to study two 70+ page chapters by Wednesday. Much of what we learn will be on our own. I can just feel new electrical connections being made in my brain. I haven't studied these topics like this since the 1970's. Tonight I will watch "Lost" and let my brain relax into it's old shape for a night.

The Donkey Was Kicking Last Night

My last caucus was in 1980. It's been a while. But last night was so fun. The excitement in the air was energizing. Parking was crazy. The crowds were thronging. Just being in a room where most of the people agreed with me on international relations, health care accessibility, global warming and homelessness was refreshing. My normally mild-mannered elementary school teacher/chicken farmer/neighbor was standing on a table with her fist in the air screaming about getting the seat back from Michelle Bachman. I didn't even recognize my back yard neighbor at first. Was it the fire in his eyes or the fact he was wearing a hat that made him unrecognizeable? I am so glad I went. I brought one offspring and we cancelled each other's vote. But that is ok. I helped her be part of the process and that was more important.

Euell Gibbons - My Hero!

I signed up for a class called the "Master Naturalist." Here is the link to more information about the class: http://www.minnesotamasternaturalist.org/pages/registration/course/course_details.php?course_id=122

Classes start tomorrow and the course is called Big Woods, Big River. I will have class on Wednesday nights for two and a half hours until the middle of April. Two Saturdays will be spent on field trips and I believe both of them are at Fort Snelling State Park. I am so excited! We will learn about animals, biomes, plants, and culture. I love animals (but not eating them), plants, geology, culture, all that stuff so this should be fun. We have books to read and a project to do at the end. I'm sure I'll learn more about that when I get there. I will be expected to donate 40 hours of my time when I finish the course.

Nineteen Minutes

Do you ever get near the end of a very favored book and start slowing down so that you can savor the last chapter? That is where I am with the book, "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. Picoult is one of my favorite authors and in this story she writes about a school shooting in the fictional town of Sterling, New Hampshire. The book tells the story of Peter, the school shooter, and the other kids at his school who bully him from the first day of kindergarten until the day he comes into school with a gun and starts shooting. I am listening to this book on CD. Sometimes I sit in the garage after I get home to finish the chapter I have about a half hour left to listen and I'm just on the edge of my seat. When the book reader says a particularly moving line, I nod my head in agreement. Last week I read a story on the BBC website about bullies and the connection between students who bully and students who have ADHD. Many kids who bully do have ADHD. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Are they more innocent because they don't pay attention long enough to see the soul they are crushing? I am proud to say that both of my offspring are not the bullying type. In fact, they both seem to go out of their way to stick up for the underdog. I don't take all the credit for that. These offspring both make good choices. In one of their high school yearbooks, another student wrote that if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't have fit into any group at school. Aw, that just made my heart swell to read it.

Varmint - I'm a gonna blow you to smithereens!

My thoughts about my vacuum cleaner.

Trumpeter Swan Revisited

Today I met a friend in Monticello and went to visit the Trumpeter Swans. There is a riverside park in Monticello, between two residential lots where thousands of trumpeter swans relax in the Mississippi river where the water is warmed by the nuclear power plant. This is their sexy time of year. When the rest of us are shivering and we feel too cold to even extend out necks out of our winter parkas, the trumpeter swans are getting it on. As shown in the photo on the right, they extend their wings (up to 10 feet across) and rise up out of the water and display their beautiful bodies in hopes of getting some action. They mate for life but will take up a new mate if their old mate dies. When we got out of the van the noise they make is extremely loud. I likened it to a busy intersection in New York City where the traffic is jammed and 30 taxis are blowing their horns. It's deafening. I couldn't help myself. I walked to the edge of the park by the river, leaned over the rail and yelled, "Be Quiet!" They didn't hear me. So many trumpeter swans and they all had something to say. In between the swans are Canadian geese and some mallards. The geese look so small in comparison. The mallards are ridiculously small. A neighbor woman feeds the swans in rubbermaid tubs that are too high for the geese and ducks to use. The geese and ducks get only what is spilled on the ground unless they fly into the tubs. I saw a mallard do that - she flew into the tub and a swan saw that and flew in after her. We saw a duck and a swan inside the same tub. They both scrambled out as quickly as they could. The woman has a corn crib in her driveway. She has attached pvc pipe (about 10 inch diameter) to the corn crib down her yard about 100 feet towards the river. At the river bank the pvc pipe angles down sharply. On the lower river bank she has about 20 rubbermaid tubs. On other years I watched her fill all the tubs and scatter the tubs several feet apart along her shore. I put some money in a donation box so the woman can continue to feed the swans. They are such beautiful birds. They fly up and down the river with their short black legs under their tails. As they land they fly low across the water for a long time before landing. I thought the tips of their wings would hit the water they flew so low but they'd skim the surface, pull their feet forward, and land like waterskiiers. When they stand on the icy shore they would honk and honk and bob their heads up and down at each other. If access to a rubbermaid tub was blocked, a swan would bite the animal in it's way with it's mouth and pull back to get a chance to eat. The cygnets (less than a year old) are grey but the adults are white. This is such a wonderful sight to see that I keep coming back, year after year (at least 6 years now), to see them. Today was much more comfortable (warmer) than other years I have gone there. To get there, head to Monticello and go east on Hwy. 75 towards the hospital. Turn South on Hwy. 39 (towards Otsego). Turn left on the second street (Riverside Drive). The park is between two houses less than a mile up the road on the right. They've added parking spaces this year which is very convenient. I don't know how long they stay in Monticello so you better go soon if you want to catch them.

Sometimes My Options Are The Lesser of Two Evils

But this year I have the luxury of choosing the better of two goods!