BBC Series - The Planet Earth

A friend of mine said, "Here, why don't you look at this movie? I think it will go with the class you are taking." I looked and it was a 5 DVD series called "The Planet Earth," done by the BBC. I agreed to take it and asked it it was ok if it took me a month or so to view it because it was so long. She said that was fine. So I took it home last Friday thinking I would have time to watch one, maybe two of the DVD's by Monday. I was hooked after the first movie and ended up giving her the set back on Monday, all viewed. What an incredible series! I learned so much. People told me they've heard of it on Oprah. I hadn't but now you can hear it from me - be sure to watch The Planet Earth!

Wrap Your Head Around This Idea - Gaia

Here is a new way of thinking that I learned about in my master naturalist class. It's a little strange and complicated but I'll do my best. It's a compilation of environmental science, nature, religion and philosophy. If you click on the link above you can get the wikipedia version. Consider the earth and all it's inhabitants as one large organism. Forget about thinking of humans as the center of the world, smarter than all other organisms. Instead the earth is one large organism. The whale, for instance, would be comparable to a toe. The earth can live without a toe. The tropical rain forest and the artic boreal forests are like the lungs. Not every organism or plant life is comparable to an organ but nevertheless, humans would be comparable to the nervous system or brain. If we, as humans, pollute the earth and cause global warming, the organism (the earth) will survive but will be changed. This idea is named Gaia - after a Greek Goddess pictured getting out of her chariot in the picture. Interesting, is it not?

The Bird

So far I've received only two suggestions for the name of the canary - Petie and Luciano Pavarotti. Petie was the name of a friend of mine mother's numerous parakeets and canaries (all went by the same name) and Pavarotti was suggested because he is a famous singer. So that got me thinking - what about naming the bird Peter Tschaivosky? I'll combine the Petie with the famous musician, plus Tschaivosky is from Russia and I have a Russian Canary. I love the Nutcracker Ballet for the music plus all those men in tights turning around in circles on stage. Tell me what you think about the name. And look at this picture of Tschaivosky - doesn't he look like he has a splitting headache? He's probably listening to some violin student playing off key.

Men Are Distracting Me Today

I stopped in Anoka on my way home today to pick up a gift for a friend. As I drove by the intersection of Main and Ferry Street I saw the statue of liberty waving at traffic as she does every day during the tax time of the year. She works for Liberty Tax. In cold weather she is very full figured because she must dress in layers or freeze to death. Her spiky crown and her gauzy dress have seen better days, tattered and discolored from standing on the road and waving to passersby. I usually wave as I go by, thankful I have the job I have instead of hers. I've waved at her for years. But today, I didn't wave. I was shocked. She had a mustache. The statue of liberty was a man! That was just wrong. I really had to concentrate on my driving as I rounded the corner because he/she was a distraction. My other manly distraction today was a half man. The lower half of a man. I had a man standing on the top rung of a 7 foot ladder in my small office today. All I could see of him was from the belt down. He stood on a ladder and drilled a 5 inch hole through the cement block wall above my ceiling. Yes, it was loud. His drill was very manly. He had a big round bit on it and an extension so that it projected forward about 2 feet. Tim the Tool Man Taylor would have loved this drill. As he balanced on top of the ladder, his legs were vibrating from the impact of the drill boring through the cement block wall. I sat and stared at his lower half for a few minutes. My office has a window to the hallway and I didn't think it would look professional if someone saw me staring at the half man. So I tried to focus on work. When that failed I just left my office and socialized. Bits of insulation filtered down around me but luckily no pieces of cement fell on my head. After the hole was drilled, he kept going back up there to fit the pipe through and feed it through the wall. What was the reason for this disruption? Our building has a food shelf on the south side. They have a walk-in cooler and freezer. The refrigeration unit for this cooler was moved outside the building to the north side. So to run the pipes for the refrigeration unit to the refrigerator and freezer, they had to go the long way and bore through 5 cement walls. Lucky for them not all the cement block walls went as high as this pipe was located. I trust there is a good reason they chose to put the refrigeration unit on the opposite side of the building.

Notes on a Scandal

Two Thumbs Up for "Notes on a Scandal," another Netflix rental starring Judi Dench, one of my favorite actresses. Judi has such a range of acting. She can play a queen, a lover, and in this case a lonely, bitter old woman who's only intimate relationship is the one she has with her diary. If she has a good day she puts a gold star on the page of her diary. Terrific film.

Welcome to the Family!

Today our family has expanded to include a male canary, a Russian canary. Actually I got this as a gift for my birthday almost 2 months ago but am just now picking him up. I got him from a breeder who sells her birds at the Robbinsdale Farm and Garden store (an interesting place in itself). From his left profile he looks all yellow with some black on his head. From the right you can see a black wing trim and more black on his head. So I am looking for names. These are names of my previous birds and are out of the running: Maggie, Rudy, Lola (can you tell I liked the Perpiches?), Slim Shady, Buddha, Thomas and Thomas II. I think I had more birds than that but those are all the names I can remember. So, any suggestions for the name of this canary? Remember, he's a boy. Only the male canaries sing. So far I thought of Kiferanga (Swahili for chick), Ndege (Swahili for bird), and Vladimir. I'd like to make sure you know I don't admire Vladimir Putin - he seems to be as pugnacious and combative as Bush - so on second thought forget Vladimir. Comment or email me with your suggestions! Thanks.

Perturbation

I learned a new word at my class on Wednesday and now I consider it to be one of my favorites - perturbation. As in comets have a perturbation effect on the orbit of planets. Or global warming has a perturbation effect on the weather resulting in tornadoes in Wisconsin in January and record high and record low rains at the same place in the same calendar year. But when I first heard the word I immediately thought of

Blunder. In fact perhaps Perturb might have been a better name for her. Global warming is having an effect on her continence. Miss Princess thinks some days this week were too cold to for her to deign to do her business outside. Well, she's got another thing coming. It's time in the kennel for you Miss Princess, until you get it through your thin skull that I don't crap in your kennel and you shouldn't crap in mine.

The Forest

Last night my Master Naturalist Class was about trees. Different trees live in different soils. Oaks like dry soil. Maples and basswoods like wet soil or floodplains. Birches and poplars like soil in between wet and dry. Each type of soil has it's own trees, shrubs, and herbs. Aspen can grow underground and connect via their root systems. For a long time, an aspen forest in Russia was the largest single plant organism. Now there is a big fungus that has taken that honor. I believe we are supposed to be able to identify the trees in our biome during this class. I have some studying to do there. I know red oaks and white oaks, pines and spruces, basswood, maples, birches and poplars. But I can't tell the difference between a red maple and a sugar maple. I'm not sure what an ironwood tree looks like (although I think I could identify it as firewood). I know elms, but what is a Siberian elm? I can spot poison ivy from a LONG distance but I don't know all the shrubs. Our instructor was having technical difficulties with his equipment so we had long lapses during the class. From where I was seated, I had an excellent view of the moon from 7 until class ended about 9:10. The window was very high and the moon was awesome. We had to take several moon breaks to admire the eclipse. Next week? Mammals. We were asked to bring scat if we have any. What a cool class. Where else would you be invited to bring scat?

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Look up at the moon tonight about 9 p.m.

Edward

I recently received an unexpected gift in the mail. Inside the package was my Grandfather's hat - the actual hat that he wore. I recognized the hat right away and I immediately put it up to my nose to see if I could smell him. I did smell some manly sweat but I learned it might have been from my nephews who wore it when they played in the yard. I decided to honor my Grandfather by giving the hat to another nephew who loves trains. Since this is a railroad hat, it only seemed fitting. Receiving and giving this railroad hat has triggered some memories of my Grandfather. He was a hardworking man. He decorated his hat and the ceiling of his cars with union pins. When I knew him he always had maroon, manual transmission cars. He was not a smooth driver. As a child I would rock back and forth in the seat as he went from one gear to the next. The back seats in those sedans were huge compared to the cars I ride in now or maybe it only seems that way because I was smaller then. The seats were black and slippery and I would try hard not to slide around. He drove so jerkily that a child could slide right off the seat and onto the floor. We didn't have seat belts then. I was lucky to live right next door to Grandpa. He enjoyed driving. He would take his family on car rides on Sunday after church and they would drive in one direction or another until they turned around and came back home, often with no destination in mind. He always had black hair. Grandpa said he had black hair because he worked in the sewers. I'm not sure what that had to do with the color of his hair but he did dig ditches for a living to supplement his farming. He helped dig the ditch in our yard when my parents hooked up to city water or sewer. I don't think he ever made much money but he had enough set aside for Grandma to live comfortably. He had arthritis and he limped. He walked better after a hip replacement. The arthritis in his feet was relieved a little bit if he kept his shoes tied very tight. If he felt good he whistled. If he was having a painful day there was no whistling. He could whistle a song without pause, whistling on the inhale as well as the exhale. He usually whistled hymns. Like me he was very allergic to poison ivy. He got really sick once because he burned the poison ivy with some other brush and inhaled the smoke. He had apple trees and many rows of raspberries. He worked in the garden. Behind the barn he had a huge manure pile that he used to compost his garden. When I was a child he had cow and he would milk the cow. He staked the cow to a post on the hill behind our back yard. One year he had two goats - Billy and Nancy. He usually had a shepard dog named Shep. Once Shep died he'd get another dog just like it and name it Shep too. I heard he was super strict with his children but I didn't know about that because he wasn't strict with me. Once a rabid skunk was skulking around the house. The skunk infected some kittens he had in the yard. I saw the mother cat take her babies out into the field to keep them safe from the skunk but to no avail. Grandpa had to kill the kittens because they were rabid. I guess he clubbed them to death. I heard he felt bad that I rode by the house on my bike and saw him club those kittens. I actually didn't notice but was touched my his concern for my feelings. He liked flowers but preferred they stay out in the garden. He didn't like to see the flowers cut and brought in the house. He was very proud of his trees. He planted a lot of trees in his yard. He gave me 10 onion sets once. I planted them in soup cans. He offered to rototill my garden and he thought he was being very funny when he said that. He had a huge rototiller with giant tines in the front and an engine like a small tractor. The handle bars could be offset so the driver didn't have to walk ankle deep in the tilled soil. He had a brick house with a white barn, an outhouse, several sheds and a windmill that brought up water from a well. The garage was right near the well house. At that time he had a grape arbor and I thought the grape arbor was a fine place to play because it was cool and shady and lots of birds came to visit. The bedroom he shared with Grandma was separated from the other bedroom on the main floor by an upright piano. The stairs going to the second story were triangular in shape and curved around a corner. The lower level had a sand floor and he kept crocks of sauerkraut down there with the canned goods. A nearly flat door led from the porch to the cellar - much like the one Dorothy went down in the Wizard of Oz to get away from the twister. When you lifted up the door you could walk down some stairs. Later the brick house was replaced with a rambler. Grandpa had two teeth and he had amblyopia (lazy eye). When he drank a glass of water, one of his eyes would open really wide and I would freak out at the sight of it. He died of prostate cancer at a hospice. I went to visit him. We could only visit a couple times a week. The hospice seemed very nice with tall ceilings and gauzy curtains for privacy. They seemed to take very good care of him there. I went with Grandma to visit. While she talked I held his hand. He looked up at her and said, "Susie is holding my hand." I was embarrassed but he only smiled. That was the last time I saw him.

Winter

Sick of it!

Who Is Frank Caliendo?

Last night we had a plan to see a comedy play at the Stages Theater called,"Don't Hug Me." That plan fell through. So we looked down Hennepin Avenue toward the Orpheum Theater and decided to see if we could get tickets to the show playing there. We did get 3 tickets to see Frank Caliendo. I had no idea who he was but I'm flexible. The Orpheum Theater is a beautiful place.

Looking at this photo, I was seated in the balcony next to the second exit door from the front on the left. The place is overwhelmingly beautiful. That chandelier on the ceiling is amazing. Those tiny tassels on the maroon velvet curtain are actually about 12 inch diameter. The white arches have a bas relief with vegetables carved into them - tomatoes, half peeled corn on the cob, onions, peppers, and eggplant. The theater was packed and the sound of the laughter bubbles forward and bounces back again. Turns out Frank Caliendo is a stand up comedian and a sports announcer. He can do impressions. He does President Bush very well. He did Adam Sandley, Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Jerry Seinfeld, Kramer, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. He did some other people I don't know but the audience thought he was very funny. John Madden - he's a sports announcer? I have no idea who Charles Barkely is. Frank was making fun of someone who doesn't prounounce the vowels in his words and he says trbl and hrbl instead of terrible and horrible. Even though I wasn't getting all the jokes, I had a good time.

Urban Dining

Yesterday I had the wonderful pleasure of going out for meals with wonderful people at two restaurants that are new to me. Lunch was at Mai Village near University and Western in St. Paul. This Thai restaurant is unique because of the beautiful decor. When you walk in you pass across a hand carved wooden bridge over a pond filled with big koi fish. The chairs are handcarved and have satin seats. Even the menu is satin covered and look like a work of art. The place is designed to look like a village in Thailand. The tables are tall and dark wood. I almost felt like I was eating in an exhibit at the Museum of Art. The food was delicious. I had mock duck with pea pods and mushrooms. The plates are light green and the bowls match and have footed pedestals. For dinner I headed to the other Twin City and ate at the Palomino Club on Hennepin Avenue. This restaurant is also very elegant and beautifully decorated. Art deco was the theme here with rich gold, mauve and purple accents. The light fixtures were giant flat pink plates with 3 huge cone shaped cups on top shining light in green, pink and purple. I was full from lunch but I ordered a tomato basil pizza. One of their specialities are flavored martini drinks. The food was delicious. I had a great day with good food, good time with family and friends, interesting restaurants and stimulating conversation.

Wooly Rhinocerous and the Equator

I have heard of the wooly mammoth but before my Wednesday night Master Naturalist class, I had never heard of a wooly rhinocerous. But there were such animals right here in Minnesota. Both animals lost the wooliness (no need for fur coats near the equator) and became the regular elephant and rhinocerous. The other amazing thing I learned is that Minnesota used to be on the equator.

Somehow knowing Minnesota used to be on the equator is very comforting to me. I am extremely ready for spring. I am tired of the cold, the icy roads, the wearing of cuddle duds, and the shivering. Now I can think back to the time of Pangaea when all the continents were cozied up together. As the continents drifted apart, Minnesota got pulled left and up. We rotated to the left and migrated north to where we are now. A mere 225 million years ago, I would have been warm here.

Love

Things that I love:

Going to bed on clean sheets fresh from the line after taking a shower.

Hearing a newborn baby cry.

Eating the first tomato of the season in the garden.

Traveling.
Talking with people.
And learning.

Dear Anonymous

Dear Driver of the Acura on Highway 10 at 7 a.m. this morning:

Are you having a bad day today? Seems to me you might be having a bad day because your driving seems overly emotional. Did your girlfriend dump you? Is one of your parents dying? Is your mortgage close to forclosure? My real question is, is any problem so looming that you want to endanger your life and the lives off all the other drivers you were around this morning when you swerved lane to lane without signalling? Are things in your life bad enough to justify your dangerous tailgating? Is your life so bleak that driving 80 mph in a 65 zone seems right to you? What were you thinking?

Sincerely,

Your Neighbor on the Highway,

Sue

Mom and Apple Pie

One of my nephews called last night to ask if I would help him with his homework assignment. He asked me to send his Mom an e-mail tomorrow about a positive thing about my mother. So this is what I sent him:

My mother made apple pies. She said she hoped someday she would make an apple pie that the juice didn’t run over and make a mess on the floor of the oven but I think she was being overly critical of herself because her apple pies were the best. She used the apples from the trees in the back yard. She made the crust from scratch – rolling the dough out between pieces of waxed paper until they covered the surface of the pan. She’d peel one side of the wax paper off and flop the crust into the pan. Then she’d gently peel the other piece of wax paper off the crust. When the apples were inside and the sugar was added, she would meld the two piecrusts together by pressing a fork down along the rim of the pie plate. Some people flute the edges together but my Mom used a fork which leaves just the right amount of dough to the outer edge of a piece of apple pie. After slashing the top crust with a knife, she’d sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the crust before baking it. While the pie baked, the apple juice would eventually seep up and overflow the pan. Many times she’s use a cookie sheet below the pie plate to catch the extra apple juice. Sometimes we would find an apple seed in our piece of pie. Mom said that meant it was a good pie because it was homemade. You don’t find apple seeds in pies you buy from the store.

Awaiting Rescue

The other night I was watching Lost and starting thinking about another one of my favorite television shows and the similarities between them. The folks on Gilligans Island were awaiting rescue for years. Like the Lost folks, they thought rescue was imminent. In one show the SS Minnow gets shipwrecked and in the other Oceanic Flight 816 goes down. In both shows the characters go to great lengths to be rescued. The professor on Gilligan's Island would come upwith ingenious yet failing plans - a lot like Jack. People respect him but he really doesn't have a clue. Mary Ann - the cheerful, helpful shipmate with dark curly hair reminds me of Kate. I know in Lost Kate has a criminal past but we really don't know what Mary Ann's past was in Gilligan's Island - she may have been a criminal too for all we know. She probably committed a felony in Iowa for fraud. And the Skipper - he always thought he knew what was best for everyone - a real control freak - just like Locke. They even look similiar with their dark eyebrows and gray balding heads. I think Juliet is like Ginger although she seems more manipulative and dangerous. As for Mr. and Mrs. Thurston Howell the Third? I think Sun and Jin Kwon fulfill that role. Both couples were rich and were used to having other people serve them. Like Mr. and Mrs. Thurston Howell the Third, their relationship is rocky. So who is Gilligan? Who has a lot more going on upstairs than people give him credit for? Who has the physical comedy role? Which character is known for what is on top of his head? Who is misunderstood and sometimes sulks by himself? Hurley!

Silent Auctions

Yesterday I went to a spaghetti dinner/fundraiser. One of my girls from the troop is going to Europe with her Mom and younger sister on a Girl Scout sponsored trip. They'll be staying at a Girl Scout chalet in Switzerland and traveling to Germany and France. So I went to the fundraiser to eat spaghetti and to help out. They had a book sale, craft sale, a game sale and a silent auction. I enjoyed the dinner. I had fun playing several games - one of which might be good fun after Thanksgiving, 2008. The silent auction ended at 7:15. Unfortunately the severely cold weather kept many people away. I bid on one item and got it. Everybody got things really cheap. There is always drama when I go to silent actions and this time the drama was provided by two pre-teen boys - not who I would have picked as silent auction professionals. But they were. They knew what they were doing. The both stood, pens in hand, as they watched the clock tick along to 7:15. The item was a 3 masted sailing ship replica - about 2 feet long. The boy who did not get the ship did not appear disappointed. He had a high price in mind and he knew he wouldn't go above it. He was a professional.

A Sign of Spring!

Twas a very cold walk around the block this morning - darn that constipated little dog! Wind was whipping up snow flake tornadoes and throwing them in my face. But I heard a sign (or a sing) of spring. The chickadee in my neighborhood exchanged his "Chick - a - dee - dee - dee" song for "Fee - bee."

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.