First Harvest

I had my first harvest from the garden today - some broccoli and one jalapeno pepper. Normally, harvesting fresh vegetables from the garden would be a pleasant experience but this one was tempered by the fact that the DEER ATE THE TOP OFF MY ROW OF SUNFLOWERS AND NOW ALL I HAVE LEFT IS A ROW OF STICKS! Dang deer, how could I think they were cute? I have a fence around the garden. Maybe I should add a wire at a higher height and hang shiny objects off to scare them. It's frustrating to go through all the work of planting and nursing the sunflowers only to have the chewed off before their prime. Only one scraggly sunflower is left. This lonely sunflower plant is so scraggly the deer must have mistaken it for a weed. Why don't deer eat weeds? Weeds must not be as tasty. The deer have also been eating the tops off the larger tomato plants.

I Passed

Despite jangled nerves and high anxiety (Curses! Why did I tell so many people I was taking this test? Now I'll have to explain why I failed!), I actually passed. Once I pay the state of Minnesota some money, I will have my motorcycle endorsement. The hardest part for me was the 2 consecutive U-turns (figure eight). I turned to the left just fine, well within the marked box. I did the right turn (usually the harder one for me) just fine. But when it came time to go straight and onto the next section of the test, I went over the line. I screwed up on the easy part. What was that about? Nerves I guess. I did the swerve fine. I did the sudden stop exceptionally well. Sudden stops are easy once I remembered to just do everything possible at the same time. Squeeze both handles and push down on both feet. I did the tight curves just fine as well so I passed. Whew! Now, do I buy a motorcycle? I am going to have to think about this. If I did get one, I wouldn't spend a lot of money. I practiced on a 250cc Suzuki. I believe that would be a good size for me. I'll look and see if there are any used ones available - preferably from an adult owner. Our instructors were really good teachers and the class was fun. I'm glad I went.

Basic Motorcycle Class

Today I finished day 2 of basic motorcycle class. Wednesday was day one. We met 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. in a classroom. They made us work and work hard. We had to sit the entire time except for a 10 minute break at 7:30. At the end we took a 50 question quiz. I got 49 correct. Today we met at 6:45 a.m. at the Anoka Technical College parking lot. I regretted the early hour but I'm glad I'm not out there this afternoon because it is HOT out there on the parking lot. The parking lot is situated between Highway 10 and the railroad tracks so it can be hard to hear the instructor. Wearing a helmet doesn't help my hearing either. I did OK. I chose a Suzuki 250 motorcycle. Mine was a little battered. The front fender was broken as was the left turn signal and mirror. The gas tank was dented up too. But not by me, I didn't spill once. I was able to keep up. I think I did better because I have been riding and balancing a bicycle this summer and because I already know how to drive a standard transmission. I had a great time tooling around the parking lot. This class was challenging. The parts that looked hard - like weaving between cones - was easy once you did it once or twice. The trick is to keep looking at least one cone ahead, not at the one you're going right past. To coordinate the shifting and braking all at once is hard. To do a quick stop, you have to do two things on the right (brake and brake) and two things on the left (pull in clutch and downshift to first) - using all four extremities in one coordinated motion. But I did it. Now I am exhausted. After class a friend and I shopped for motorcycles at a local Honda dealer. If I pass this class tomorrow, I think I'll be in the market for a 250 or 450 cc motorcycle. Then I went home and took a nap. I could see cones in my sleep. My hands are tired and my collarbones ache. I must be using chest muscles that I don't normally use. My back is fine though. Tomorrow is the last class and the final exam. Even if I don't get my motorcycle endorsement tomorrow, I have to congratulate myself on doing something this challenging.

Happy Independence Day

Here is a painting of one of my favorite American heroes, Dolley Madison. Dolley was a confident and strong woman who was at ease in any situation. During the war of 1812, when she was first lady, the British attacked Washington DC. She was urged to evacuate. She refused to leave the White House at first. When the danger came closer she agreed to leave but not until she had rolled up the most important artwork to take with her. Thanks to her efforts, those paintings survived the burning of the White House and are still on display to this day. When she returned to see the White House in ruins, she pitched right in to help set things straight. She was at ease in any social situation and able to laugh and joke with foreign diplomats and royalty and hostile statesmen. It is said that her gracious tact smoothed many quarrels. She welcomed everyone. Dolley's hobby was listening to the Supreme Court in her spare time. She had a favorite chair in the Supreme Court hearing room. Dolley's story is a fascinating piece of history.

Pine Devastation

Last summer I wrote about the saw fly attack on my white pine trees. If you remember, the branches were twitching with the movement of so many saw fly worms on each branch. If I shook a branch on my 4 foot tree, dozens of worms would fall off. I got some pesticide but by the time I got back, nearly all the branches were eaten off the pine tree on the north side. Somehow, many of those worms crawled to the east side of the house and had eaten a third of the needles off that 5 foot white pine tree. I sprayed and they all fell to the ground. I thought the tree on the north side might be doomed but maybe the other one had a chance. This spring both trees looked like they might make it. The one on the north side looked like a bottle brush - bare branches and green needles at the ends. But in the past couple weeks, all the branches were eaten off again. The white pine on the east side, the healthier one, is showing damage too. And it's not just my yard. Neighboring yards with tall white and red pines are turning brown. All of the pines bordering Highway 47 in the Rum River Scout camp look like they are turning brown and dying. There is a stand of pine trees bordering Elmcrest park - they've been hit too. What is going on here? Is it the saw fly devastation again? Did the saw flies lay eggs on the pine trees that have hatched and are munching these beautiful trees to death? I am on the DNR mailing list and they mentioned the danger of saw flies on pine trees. If all these pine trees die, I will be so sad.

Farmer

A Day Off Work

I took the day off work today and oh, what a beautiful day it was. We met for breakfast at the Good Earth restaurant. We asked if it would be alright if I left my car there for a few hours. The waiter said he's never seen a car towed out of there but we shouldn't rely on anything he has to say. I laughed out loud. If we shouldn't rely on anything he has to say, shouldn't we be able to rely on that? We headed over to Minneapolis to drive around the lakes. We stopped at Lake Calhoun and rented a two person kayak. We kayaked and yakked. We observed sailing lessons going on around us. We saw a group of eight tiny sail boats with young (ages 5 or 6?) kids learning how to sail. These boats were like bathtubs with a single sail. These little kids sailed by us and waved, very nonchalant. When my kids were that age I only let the row the boat if the anchor was secured to the dock. They could go as far as the anchor rope could stretch. These little tykes were sailing around and around in circles. It almost looked like synchronized sailing. The older kids had bigger boats with two sails. Some of them were messing up right and left. We saw 3 fall overboard. One sail boat tipped over. The instructors were in fishing boats with megaphones. The instructors didn't seem to be a lot of help saying things like, "Vanessa, why are you out of the boat again?" Comments after a bad thing has happened aren't all that useful. Back on shore again we headed over to Saint Sabrina's so one of us could get a nose piercing. Yeah, I wasn't interested before and I'm sure not interested now after observing. Whew. As we drove east down Franklin Avenue we stopped for a red light. A small grocery store had lettering on the window advertising "Meats Camel Goat Kidneys BBQ Cell Phone Cards." I didn't think cell phone card were a kind of meat. On the other side of the door were other words. "Pizz Puff" Pizz Puff? What is that? It doesn't sound very appetizing to me. Maybe it's pizza puff and someone rubbed out the final a but even so, what is pizza puff? As I looked further down the list of words, it said (I swear I am not making this up) bugers. They sell bugers there. Did someone rub out the r on burgers or do you think they really sell nasal congestion?