Decade in Review

10 years ago I was the single parent of an 11 year old and a 15 year old. My life revolved around the school district calendar. I was busy with school conferences, doctor appointments, hauling kids here and there, permission slips, lunch money, orchestra concerts, my Girl Scout cookies, and worried about infrastructure failure from the Y2K bug. I drove a maroon Plymouth voyager minivan that I hated. How times have changed.

Now I am a single parent of two young, independent, successful and healthy adult children. The eaglets have fledged. My life revolves around things I like to do like watching birds, reading, gardening, appreciating nature, swimming, knitting, making crafts, watching movies, and visiting with friends. I am busy with exercise classes, book club, community education classes, and home improvement projects. I drive an older Honda civic that gets close to 50 mg on the highway. I like my car. I’ve driven the Honda to the west coast once and the east coast twice.

In the past 10 years I’ve learned how to whittle, knit, identify some birds, make mosaics in tile and glass, make ricotta cheese, and raise chickens. I became a Master Naturalist. I’ve seen Tracy Chapman twice in concert. I’ve traveled to Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain and Glacier National Parks, Mount Rushmore, Waukegon in Illinois, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Fort Deven in Massachusetts, Kenya, New Orleans, Groton in Connecticut, San Diego, Estes Park in Colorado, London, Paris, and Newport in Rhode Island.

I feel so fortunate that I can hardly freaking believe it.

Pay Extra for Nitrogen?

Today I finally had time to replace the worn tires on my car. My Firestones had more than 60,000 miles on them. Given the fact my driveway has 10 layers of ice on it, I want the best traction I can get. I stopped at Wright Tire to get some new ones. I think I got a good deal on the tires. I paid less than I thought I would. The cost was $160 less than what the car dealer quoted me. I was asked if I wanted to pay an extra $20 ($5 each tire) to have them filled with nitrogen. I was told nitrogen has larger molecules and fewer molecules will escape through the tire. I will have less of a difference in tire pressure as the seasons change from winter to summer. As the sales clerk was talking, my mind went back to the diagrams of the nitrogen cycle we were shown in my master naturalist class. Do I want more nitrogen? Do I want to pay extra to have nitrogen in my tires? Will this be bad for the environment? Nitrogen is an ingredient in fertilizer. Lightening adds nitrogen to the environment. Leaving the roots of bean plants in the garden keeps the trapped nitrogen in the soil. Wait a minute, isn't there nitrogen in our air already? My mind is racing a thousand ways while the clerk is waiting for an answer. I pass on the nitrogen filled tires. When I got home I looked it up on the Internet - the source of all correct information, right? Yes, our air is composed of 78% nitrogen. According to a popular mechanics article, the benefits are less moisture inside the tire (keeping the rim corrosion free) and consistent tire pressure resulting in slightly better mileage and lower tire maintenance costs. Good information to have. I wish I had it a little sooner so I could have made a more informed decision.

The Power Of A Name

I had a wonderful birthday the other day. A sibling gave me a gift early this year and I saved it to open on my birthday. I sat down to breakfast and while I ate, I opened the gift. There were 3 wrapped packages in the bag. One was a vegetarian cookbook - very nice. The second was an orange candle holder with tea candles - also very nice and in my favorite color. Does she know me or what? The third gift was a lightweight clear plastic cyliner with a bright label. At first glance I saw packing material inside. Then I read the label - mealworms. Mealworms to feed the birds. That wasn't packing material, those are worms on my kitchen table. My tummy did a little flip flop. I wrapped that one back up and put it back in the bag and moved it off the table. Wow. I worked on my birthday. Tradition states the birthday person brings a treat to the office. Usually people are sick of chocolate, cookies and sweets after the holidays. I made a double batch of split pea soup. I brought it to work in a crockpot. My grocery store was out of green split peas so I bought yellow split peas. I think I like the yellow ones better. I was going to make a sign so people would know what kind of soup it was. My first sign read, "Yellow Pea Soup." That just didn't sound appealing so I threw that one out and wrote, "Yellow Split Pea Soup." Much better. All the soup was gone by noon. After work my offspring took me out to eat at the Good Earth restaurant. We had a great meal together. The waitress brought a piece of carrot cake higher than the length of my fork. A candle was burning in the top of the cake. I hesitated to bite such a big piece of cake. The kids asked, "What are you waiting for? Us to sing?" "Sure, " I replied, knowing they wouldn't. That must have sounded like a dare to them because they BOTH started singing "Happy Birthday" at full volume. I waved my arms to make them stop. I was very surprised they would draw such attention in a public place. One of the gifts I got was a snuggie. This is a perfect gift for me because I am always cold in my office. Cold air pours in from a vent in the ceiling. I wear a lap blanket 12 months a year. I also use a portable heater off and on. The heater helps but I get too hot and then too cold and then too hot, etc. Today I wore my snuggie and was perfectly comfortable without the heater. A coworker (a guy in his late 20's) came to visit me and was surprised to see the snuggie. He said he heard about them but would never wear them because of the name. I had to ask, "What is wrong with snuggie?" He said a snuggie is when you get your underwear pulled up out your waistband. I told him that was a wedgie and he said in his neighborhood, that was a snuggie, not a wedgie. Another coworker (a woman in her 20's) came by and said the same thing. She would never wear one because that means getting your underwear pulled too tight. I don't have a problem with the name. At one point a stranger came by my office looking for directions. I got up to help them find their way. "Excuse me," I said, "I have to remove my snuggie first." That was a little awkward but feeling cold all day long is awkward too. I'd rather be warm in my snuggie.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Black capped chickadee - 5, White breasted Nuthatch -1, Blue Jay - 1, American Crow - 1, Downy Woodpecker - 1

(the birds are slowing down on the eating this week. Maybe they don't like this brand of sunflower seeds.)

Squirrel Stripping

The gray squirrels in my backyard have been systematically stripping the bark off my basswood tree branches. They chose branches that are about an inch in diameter and peel the bark back in strips many feet long. They gather the strips of bark into a bundle and form a ball with their squirrelly little hands. When the bark is all balled up, the climb down the basswood tree and jump across the snow into the basswood/oak forest behind my house. My basswood tree is large and old and can probably withstand this abuse. I can see about 8 branches that are creamy yellow in color instead of the gray/brown barked branches. I first noticed squirrels doing this in early November. I believe they are doing to fend off starvation. In early November we still had acorns and walnuts sitting on the ground, ready for the taking. In this area at least, it has been a banner crop of tree food. I've never seen so many acorns and walnuts before this year. So why are the squirrels taking basswood bark to eat now?

Let It Snow

Happy Holidays

To all those who enter my virtual world here, have a redneck happy holidays. Love ya!