Cardinal Song

This morning I heard a cardinal sing in the spruce tree outside my bedroom window. The sound of the cardinal song was so beautiful, I stopped in my tracks.  The sound represented summer and sunshine and cut grass.  It took me only seconds to figure out it was a cardinal.  I wondered what it was about the sound of a cardinal that makes it so special?  They're here all winter.  Cardinals are common in my yard.  Later in the day I saw that two people wrote on the Minnesota Ornithological Union listserve emails appreciating the sound of a cardinal.  I wasn't the only one today who was struck by the beauty of the cardinal song.  Listen for yourself.  The cardinal sounds as pretty as it looks conspicuous.

The Last New Bird of the Year For Me-Rock Dove

Should I Spend $98 To Play In The Dirt?

Groupon (an Internet based coupon system) has a coupon for half price on a one hour construction vehicle driving adventure and obstacle course.  I have to admit, I want to do it.  My ultimate goal is to move a big hill with a bulldozer and they offer that too but for almost $900.  For only $98 I could operate a Caterpillar skid steer.  I would get 20 minutes of instruction and 40 minutes to drive an obstacle course, move dirt and shove tractor tires around with the flip of a wrist.  I have two days to decide.  The location is called Extreme Sandbox and is located in Hastings.  Should I?  Will this be my only chance to drive a construction vehicle?  Couldn't I just rent a bobcat and actually use it in my yard for about the same amount of money?  Decisions.  Decisions.

Smug But Not Over Confident

I broke my long (can it really be four years?) loosing streak in Scrabble to a certain un-named opponent. I beat her.  (sing-song) I won a game.  I won a game.  By six points.  I was lucky with the letters.  I had to be lucky with the letters in other games over the past four years and I still lost.  But not this time.  I won.  It feels good.  Please tell me why she puts "za" into every game?  As if za is really a word.  Plus it makes me hungry for pizza and I don't even like pizza all that much.

Project Feeder Watch Update

White Breasted Nuthatch (who, with the black feathers what dip down betwen the eyes have always reminded me of Eddie Munster)-2, Black Capped chickadee-5, Downy Woodpecker-2, Hairy Woodpecker-1, Junco-4, Blue Jay-1, Cardinal-2

Bootylicious

I copied and pasted this article just as I found it.  Another case where truth is stranger than fiction:

Wild & Weird: Horsefly Named After Beyoncé's Buttocks



















In an unusually bold step for invertebrate taxonomy, an Australian insect with a golden tuchus has just been officially named after pop singer Beyoncé Knowles, also widely recognized as possessing first-rate glutei maximi. The fly, of which the first specimen was apparently captured the same year Beyoncé was born (1981), was dubbed Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae by a 24-year-old male researcher from the land Down Under.










Many horseflies are bloodsuckers, but the dietary habits of Scaptia Plinthina beyonceae are not yet known. Also unknown is whether the pop star named her two-week-old offspring, Blue Ivy, as a similar homage to the interplay of the natural and celebrity worlds.










Read more and see photos of the bootylicious fly in The Washington Post.

Don't Mess With Rutabega

This past year I've been experimenting with vegetable soups.  I've tried butternut squash soup, acorn squash soup, carrot soup, and some other kind of squash soup.  All these soups are broth based, pureed, spicy, low in calorie and they taste very good.  Until this last batch of acorn squash soup.  In this trial, I added pieces of a left over rutabega that I wanted to use up.  I used only about a half a cup of rutabega but that was enough to turn the main flavor from squash to rutabega.  Yeah, not so good.  Edible but not so good.  Some people think rutabegas are underappreciated.  I don't agree.

Modern Brakes Clearly Explained

Word Power

Isn't it funny how impacting words can be?  Just hearing or reading a word can make or break your day.  A single collection of letters that society gives meaning can chart the course of your behavior.  For me, today, January 26, 2012, two words impacted my entire afternoon.

I read about tater tots somewhere this morning.  I thought about tater tots all day at work. I thought about tater tots while swimming laps.  I thought about tater tots on the drive home.  I searched my freezer compartment and I pulled an opened bag of tater tots out of the freezer, dusted the ice crystals off, stuck them in the oven at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.  They were delicious.  Now I am over them.  I wonder what words tomorrow will bring?



By Nightfall

I read By Nightfall, a novel written by Pulitzer Price winner Michael Cunningham.  He also wrote The Hours.  I wasn't so impressed with this book.  The story is about a married couple who live in Manhattan, Peter and Rebecca.  They are estranged from their daughter who dropped out of college to work at a hotel bar in Boston.  Their lives change when Rebecca's younger brother, Ethan, comes for a visit.  I didn't totally dislike the book.  I did like the free form style of writing and I felt like I really understood where Peter (who tells the story) was coming from as he experienced each moment.  In fact sometimes I was ready to move on to the next experience before Peter was.  I felt the author was stingy in giving us the details to really understand what was going on.  The whole picture didn't really take shape until the last chapter when everything started to make more sense.

1968

A good friend took me out for an evening at the Minnesota History Center (near the Cathedral of St. Paul) last night for my birthday.  We went to see the exhibit on 1968.  Some people have asked me why the exhibit is on that year as compared to others.  Many things happened in 1968.  I can remember some of them but I remember even more now that I've walked through the exhibit. I talked to one coworker who kindly told me she wasn't born yet in 1968 but she prefers to study decades more than years and off all the decades, she has always liked the 20's and the 60's.  I smile kindly but inside I'm rolling my eyes and thinking "You already had me feeling old with the information that you weren't born yet.  You don't have to rub it in by comparing the 60's the the 19 freaking 20's!"  The exhibit took us a couple hours to walk through. We went on Tuesday because after 5 p.m., admission is free.  So you save money but you have to put up with large crowds.  Each month of the year has a special section in the exhibit and it lists the things that happened that particular month.  They have an actual helicopter that was used in Vietnam in the exhibit.  I overheard one man tell his son where he sat in the aircraft when he was in the war.  Inside the copter is a short film telling stories from eight different perspectives on the war.  I hope other veterans are able to see this exhibit.  We took the time to listen to all eight stories because each one was captivating. The exhibit had information about the fashion (I never liked Twiggy - too skinny), the music (the White album came out that year), the politics (Democratic National convention in Chicago, riots protesting the war, and Pat Paulson for President), the assassinations (MLK and RFK), the books, the album covers, the new plastic products available (plates, cups, etc), the macrame wall hangings, the green glass ashtrays, the television shows (Mission Impossible, Family Affair, Julia, Star Trek, Get Smart), the movies and the social changes.  They even had a barrel of bras on display.  The whole exhibit was fascinating.  The last area you go into, once you get past the display about the space mission that sent back the first photos of our earth, is a typical living room from 1968.  There is a green couch with a low coffee table and a glass ashtray, a photo of John F. Kennedy on the wall, and a television console.  The 1968 exhibit at the Minnesota History Center is right on (Note to the age deprived-right on is 1968 lingo for excellent).

My First Car

I've been reminiscing about the old days when I got my first car because a young relative of mine just got his driver's licence.  He had a bit of a struggle getting the license and with that I could relate.  The thing was my parents kept putting up road blocks (pun intended) to me getting a car.  I kept mistaking the roadblocks for stepping stones.  Looking back, I admire the young me for her perseverance and dedication and single minded determination to get a car.  I first wanted a car at 16.  Wanted isn't a strong enough word, I was chomping at the bit to get a car. I didn't have a driver's license and wasn't allowed to get a license until I had a car to take the test.  Road block #1.  Buy a car.  And I wasn't allowed to borrow any money.  And the car had to be worth at least $1500 (which was way more money in the 70's than it is now).  And I had to have several hundred more in cash for the incidentals (insurance and other unnamed expenses).  I saved the money in a couple years of working at a local nursing home.  So I had the money.  And I picked out the car.  It was a 1968 red Ford Mustang with black interior.  My girlfriend and I found it in the paper and went to look at it.  We talked to the owner.  The price was right.  The car was gorgeous, all candy apple red and shiny.  I could picture myself driving to high school sitting on that black bucket seat.   No more yellow school bus for me.  No more trips around Lake Owasso on the way to school.   And my Mustang (for in my mind, it was already my Mustang) was close - just a couple miles away on Larpenteur and Marion.  I was almost there!  My parent had to approve.  I was surprised by the instant and total disapproval of my pretty red Mustang.  What?  Where did this new roadblock come from?  Why?  "Too much power for you."  Too much power?  It wasn't a rocket, only a car.  It has brakes.  Who's money was buying it anyway?  Now suddenly the parent was more interested in helping me find a car.  And he found one-a 1968 blue Rambler American.  It had low mileage and was in good condition and (with a chronic dysfunctional choke) never had too much power.  In fact, I could barely make it up some hills.  I had to get some speed up before the hill or I would never make it to the top.  I, being so determined and desperate to have a car, wasn't that upset about the Mustang anymore.  My American had a jaunty tilt to it with the front end higher than the rear end, as if it would take off into the sky.  I had a car.   I had A CAR!   Time for roadblock #2.  Now I could take the driving test.  I drove my car to the testing station in Arden Hills.  I failed to pass the test.  I had not foreseen another roadblock such as this (i.e. not from a parent).  I drove my car home and parked it in the driveway.  My head hung low and my shoulders slumped.  Now walking to work really burned my fuse.  I had a car.  It was insured.  And I couldn't drive it. I could look at it as I walked  home.  I was so frustrated for those few weeks before I could take the test again.  Every night when I walked into my yard after work or after school I would narrow my eyes and almost growl out loud.  I think I felt feelings stronger as a teenager than I do now.  Here I was, riding the school bus and walking again, when I could have been driving home in MY CAR if only I had passed that test.  I took the test again and I passed with a 96% score.  Warning:  mood change!  I was on cloud nine.  I could drive on my own!  I felt terrific.  I felt so happy I couldn't hardly stand it.  I didn't have too much time to celebrate because I had to be to work in a very short time.  I dropped off my parent and drove to work feeling an intense level of  happiness I had never felt before and have never felt again.  My job was only 3 minutes away from my home but I will always remember that first time I drove by myself.  Some people look forward to going to heaven.  I believe I've been to heaven the first time I drove my car by myself.  I will never forget that 1.5 mile trip.  It will be a sad day when my offspring take my driving license away from me.  I don't think I'll give it up voluntarily.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Crows-3, Black Capped Chickadee-6, White Breasted Nuthatch-2, Junco-3, Northern Cardinal-2, Hairy Woodpecker (snort)-2

Rumble Roller

I got a "rumble roller" as a gift this year.  It's like a foam roller but with tractor tread on it.  You are supposed to use it to massage your muscles.  You put it on the floor and roll your major muscles back and forth.  I used to today because I was stiff after a two hour hike through the woods and when I was done, all the stiffness  and muscle pain was gone.  It's amazing.  Your own body weight provides the pressure. If the pressure is too painful you simply put less weight on the roller.  When I received the gift I wasn't too sure I would find it helpful but now I am a fan.

Winter Bird Hike



Golden Eye Duck



I did the winter bird hike and it wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed last night.  I was probably just tired and cold and irritable.  I prepared for the hike by getting up early, swimming laps, sitting for 10 minutes in the hot steam room and warming up my core.  I wore 18 items of clothing which was more than anyone else there.  I was warm but unbendable and inflexible.  I walked a little bit like Frankenstein.  Warm is good though because it was cold out.  Ice formed on my eyelashes.  When we were out in the open along the Mississippi River and looking into the wind, my eyes watered.  The first bird we saw was a red tail hawk sitting  high in a tree trying to mind it's own predatory business while three crows kept flying at it and calling loudly, trying to force it to fly away.  There is open water beneath the dam and in that frosty water swam mallards, Canadian Geese, Golden Eyes, and common mergansers.  On an ice island not far from the river edge we could see the footprints where mink crossed the snow.   We also saw downy woodpecker, black capped chickadee, blue jays, and bald eagles.  We saw a total of 5 bald eagles flying up and down the river.  One eagle sat on the edge of the river ice eating something, possible fish guts left by an otter or mink.  The ducks get very nervous when an eagle flies by.  We got a great, long look at a group of 7 American tree sparrows.  And last, but not least, we saw white breasted nuthatch and a hairy woodpecker (which I can hardly type with a straight face anymore now that Offspring #1 has made me aware how dirty that bird name is). We saw a total of 16 species.  We walked a long way.  We started at the building on the Coon Rapids side, walked on the dam and back, and then walked down and around the trout pond.  This is a long way for me. On the way back the leader suggested tramping through a swamp to look at the bird feeders at some of the houses on the ridge.  He was hoping to see a pileated woodpecker.  I declined that extra trudging because my Frankenstein legs were aching so I walked back along the road.  I hoped to see a Northern shrike.  Although I didn't get to see one, I now know where in that park they usually hang out and that is helpful.  I'm glad I went out today. The woods were pretty.  The sun made the snow sparkle and it squeaked beneath our feet.  Even a cold winter day can be nice if you are dressed for it.

What Was I Thinking?

I signed up for a bird hike tomorrow morning.  Outside.  For two hours outside.  What was I thinking?  I am going to be so cold!  And winter doesn't offer that many varieties of birds.  We are supposed to hear or see up to 60 species.  Up to 60 species.  That could mean zero or one specie.  Ai Carumba.  Well, if I get too cold, I will just ditch the group and go home.  They can't make me stay against my will.

Tailgaters

Last night I was on my way to a meeting.  It was an evening meeting that I didn't have to attend but wanted to attend.  Big flakes of snow fell as I walked to my car.  Along the way the snow got heavier.  I was driving on country roads with two lanes and a speed limit of 55 mph.  As the snow started to accumulate I slowed down to be safe.  Seeing the sides of the roads became difficult and the yellow line was buried in snow.  A big white truck came up behind me and stayed too close.  In my small car, the headlights shone through the back window and blinded me in the rear view mirror.  Why do cars stay so close?  Do they really think tailgating will make me go faster?  I remembered back to my road trip when I drove through a blizzard on a mountain pass in Colorado and a tailgater hit me.  Then I thought, "I don't need this."  I pulled to the side of the road and the white pick up went around me.  I made a U turn and went home.  I don't need to be out driving in the dark, windy cold tonight when I can go home, make some hot cocoa, and sit down and read the newspaper.  I haven't had a moment to myself yet today.  So I went home.  And this morning, on my way to work, another big white truck (what is it with aggressive drivers in white trucks?) tailgated me on Highway 47.  Turning around is not an option. I have to go to work.  And I got angry at this one.  I slowed down.  He tailgated closer.  I sped up.  Even going 60 mph (in a 55 zone) he was still on my bumper.  So I slowed down to 40.  I stayed at 40 until the speed limit went down to 50 mph and then I stayed at 50.  He tailgated the entire way.  I prayed he would turn but he didn't.  When other cars merged in, I hoped someone would come between us but he wouldn't let anyone in.  Stupid tailgater can't even zipper (allow others to merge in) right.  When I went down the entrance ramp onto Highway 10 he was driving too close to my car.  As soon as the cement divider ended, the white truck veered left into the fast lane at a dangerous speed.  I watched as he (without signaling) changed lanes four times to get around other cars.  He drove like a maniac.  Suddenly I regretted slowing down in front of a maniac.  I didn't really appreciate just how aggressive of a driver he was.  When we drove through Colorado, we saw road signs asking us to report aggressive drivers.  I think the next time that happens, I will report aggressive drivers.  Maybe I'm optimistic, but a phone call from a police department saying someone reported them for aggressive driving might make them think twice before doing it again. 

Solar

Ian McEwan wrote Solar, a novel about solar energy and the idea to recreate what even a lowly dandelion can do - photosynthesis.  If we could harness the power of the sun into photosynthesis, our dependence on fossil fuels would come to an end. We could split hydrogen and carbon, energize the modern world without depleting our resources.  To explain this, McEwan employs the use of physics, quantam mechanics and even string theory.  So is this book serious bedtime reading and bore you to sleep?  Is it heavy and hard to read?  No!  Its a comedy of all things.  McEwan makes up an amoral womanizer (that is redundant) in the character of Michael Beard.  Michael Beard's character is the only one that gets developed in this story. He is selfish, scheming, swindling, gluttonish Nobel prize winning physicist.  He marries five times.  If you read this book, you will, no doubt, dislike Beard very much.  And the story is told from his point of view.  There aren't too many books that make me chuckle aloud and this one did.  Solar is not at all what I expected from Ian McEwan because his other stories are serious and crafted.  He is usually a serious writer.  If you listen to the book on CD, you will get the added bonus of an interview with the author.  Part of the story at the end of the book takes place in New Mexico where there is lots of solar energy available.  The appendix of the book details the speech given when Michael Beard was awarded his Nobel Prize by the King of Norway which made Beard seem more like a real person and made for a pleasant way to finish the story.

Swan Park, Monticello

I went to visit Swan Park in Monticello again this year.  I picked a warmer day with a high temperature in the 30's for a nice change.  Usually it's bitter cold when I go there. This year there were fewer swans.  I saw about 100 swans, 100 Canadian Geese, and 150 mallard ducks.  The woman who started feeding the swans died last year but her husband continues feeding them until they find other sources of food. The birds were noisy and they were beautiful.  Chunks of ice floating by showed just how fast the Mississippi River was flowing.  The open water looked cold but the birds didn't seem to mind.  As I stood there appreciating the swans, the geese and the ducks, a bald eagle flew by heading downriver and to the other shore just to make the scenery that much more attractive.  I couldn't ask for more. Some of the swans were posturing.  Some rose up in the water, stretched their head up high, and flapped their seven foot wings at each other.  I could hear the "whomp whomp" of their wings moving the air.  Other pairs of swans swam beak to beak, raising and lowering their heads in unison forming heart shaped spaces with their necks as they went down.  Some swans flew right over our heads, their beautiful white bodies bright against the blue sky.  And the noise!  Trumpter swans trumpet loudly and constantly.  The mallards quack quite a bit too.  The trumpeters are the loudest, the whitest, the biggest and the prettiest birds in town. 

Project Feeder Watch

American Goldfinch-4, Black Capped Chickadee-5, White breasted Nuthatch-1, Hairy Woodpecker-1, Crow-12, Junco - 3.

Dixie Swim Club

Last night I joined my college roommates for dinner and a show.  We went to the Lyric Arts theater for "The Dixie Swim Club."  The show involves 5 women who get together at a cottage on the Outer Banks every August after graduating from college.  The women have rules for their weekend together - no children and no men.  The show is hilarious.  Each funny line is followed by an even funnier line.  I'm so glad we went.

More Pictures From Ecuador - Isabella Island

Tortoise taking a bath.

Flamingos in the salt pond on Isabella Island.  I love seeing their reflections.

This is me on the rooftop garden in Isabella.

My friend on the rooftop in Isabella.

My friend took a wide angle shot from the rooftop of our hotel in Isabella (our favorite island).  The ocean is at the top of the photo.  The salt ponds is on the right and that is where the flamingos hung out.

More Pictures From Ecuador (underwater)

I had dinner last night with my friend. She shared her pictures from the Galapagos Islands.  She is an awesome photographer and she had a very nice camera.  Enjoy!

Sea turtle photo taken underwater.  Yes, we were that close.

This is an alien from outer space.  No, wait, that could be me.

This is the south end of a marine iguana swimming north.  I can see it's tail and right hind leg.

This is a ray.  They hide under the sand sometimes and are hard to see.

This is my friend. She has extremely large and wide feet.  Our guide swam deep enough to get this photo. I tried to do it but it is really hard to swim down in salt water.

Prettily colored coral on Kicker Rock.  My friend has a nice underwater camera. The colors were breathtaking.



Here are a school of fish we saw while snorkeling in shallower waters.

A Year Of Fog

My book club read A Year Of Fog by Michelle Richmond.  I liked it to some degree.  Although it was a page turner, I wouldn't put it in the top fifty books I have read.  The plot involves a young child, walking with her Dad's fiancee on the beach in the fog, disappears.  The book focuses on the aftermath.  The fiancee, of course, feels totally guilty even though she did nothing wrong.  The wedding is called off. The father gives up trying to find his daughter.  The fiancee does not give up.  Some parts of the book were totally believable and others were not.  Because our novel was thoroughly researched by our discussion leader, we learned that another chapter, an ending chapter that was cut from the book, is available from the author for only $1.99.  Seriously?  A chapter you edited out (for no doubt a good reason) you think I will buy?  The author also offers an on-line writing course for $99.00.  Self promotion can be a good thing but I don't think I would buy the writing course unless I thought the author was capable of writing a book in my top 50 list.

I Confess. I Have A Big Mouth

The Scene?  A local bank.  The Time?  After work.  The Business at The Bank?  Buying a bank product unrelated my to checking or savings account.  What did the Bank Official Say?  She told me to initial a particular line indicating that overdrafts charges are $28 per day.  She said federal regulations require that I sign this line even though overdrafts are not possible with the bank product I was purchasing.  What Did My Big Mouth Say?  (loudly) Twenty Eight Dollars A Day?  A Day?  Twenty Eight Dollars?  OUCH! (I notice heads turning to look at me so I lower my voice to a normal tone and continue) You guys must really be raking in the money on people who don't make good decisions.  The Bank Officials Response?  Well, some of these young kids,  they write a check for the rent and then they don't get paid for two weeks.  We banks have to get some money to pay the light bill.

My mouth stayed shut on that one but as my eyes rolled up in my head I did notice they do have a lot of lights on at the bank.  Fluorescent.

Word Play

Full Wolf Moon

Who noticed the full moon last night?  It was awesome.  As I pulled my trash can to the street Sunday evening, the full wolf moon lit the way and cast long shadows over my path.  When I woke up during the night (the first time in a week that I haven't been under the Nyquil influence) the moon lit up my bedroom from both windows.  And this morning as I drove to work the full moon hung large and round in the air and was seen through the bare tree branches.  The moon was so big it almost looked like a harvest moon. It was simply beautiful.  The full moon in January is known as the wolf moon.  And when the wolf moon appeared, the Department of Natural Resources announces there may be a limited hunting season on wolves in 2012.  I don't know how I feel about that.  Wolf hunting is a "trophy" hunt meaning hunters don't kill wolves to eat them or use their pelt to make coats.  Wolves have a bad rap.  They're characterized as big and bad in books.  Is it because wolves are at the top of the food chain that we are so bothered by them?  Apex predators have an important place in our delicate ecosystem.  The value of wolves has been well documented in Yellowstone National Park where we have seen them exterminated and brought back again.  To hear a howl of a wolf can be a hair raising experience.  If I ever have progeny beyond my two offspring, I want them to be able to hear and appreciate the cry of a wolf.  I doubt a little hunting will hurt the wolf population in our state.  I hope those who do apply to  hunt wolves and get permits, hunt responsibly and that they appreciate the animal who's life they are taking.

Project Feederwatch Update

American Crow-7, Black Capped Chickadee-6, White Breasted Nuthatch-1, Junco-4, Hairy woodpecker-1, Downy Woodpecker-1

I'll Fly Away

On Thursday I went to the funeral of a man I have known for over 20 years.  We knew each other professionally.  We weren't close but after being in hundreds of meetings with the same person over the years, you get to know a person.  I liked him.  He was interesting.  He was professional.  He was jolly.  He had a way of making people feel important.  We were both fans of Greg Brown, the folksinger, and sometimes we'd see each at concerts.  This man also was a musician. He wrote songs for his coworkers when they left or had an important birthday.   I attended his retirement party last April and I received a recording of the songs he had written.  I am so sad that he enjoyed less than a year of retirement before he died.  This is one of the songs they played at the funeral and it's been stuck in my head ever since.  Listen to it.  It's a good song for a funeral I think.

Peanut Butter Kisses

Today someone left peanut butter kisses on the break room table at work.  You know peanut butter kisses?  They are the wrapped peanut butter flavored taffy wrapped in black and orange waxed paper?  The kisses wrapped in orange paper taste the best.  I took a peanut butter kiss for myself and remembered back to a job where I got a peanut butter kiss every day.  I worked as a nurses aid when I was in college.  The nursing home backed up to some woods that led to the St. Cloud penitentiary and that made for exciting walks to our cars when we heard a convict had escaped.  One of the patients there was a woman who was younger than the other residents.  I think her first initial was T.  T had physical challenges in her middle age that made it impossible for her to live at home.  Her husband's name was Jerry.  Jerry came to visit his wife every night after work.  He stayed all evening.  He ate meals with his wife and sometimes their children and grandchildren came to the nursing home too. When I first started there, Jerry would offer me a piece of candy from a bowl with many kinds of candy.  He learned my name and he learned my candy choice; peanut butter kisses.  Every night Jerry would find me and give me a peanut butter kiss. If I wasn't working on T's wing, he would come and find me.  Looking back, I see now I took Jerry for granted.  Never have I had another job where I got a piece of candy every day I worked.  Seldom have I met a man so kind, so cheerful, and so devoted to his wife.  Jerry took lemons and made them into lemonade. I was just a kid back in those days when Jerry gave me peanut butter kisses.  I had no idea how great of a guy he really was.  So today, as I chewed my peanut butter kiss, I thought of Jerry and finally realized how lucky I was to have known him.

Gurneys Keeps Me Warm On Long Winter Nights

Everything looks so great in the Gurney's seed catalog.  The cabbages are huge.  The carrots orange and slender.  The sunflowers are 12 feet tall.  The pumpkins, the beets, the squash, the peas in the pod, the potatoes, the angel trumpet vines, the black eyes susans, the hardy lavender, and the ostrich plume ferns - they all look fantastic.  Will my garden compare to these photographically enhanced beauties?  No, of course not.  But that doesn't stop me from dreaming and planning and scheming and imagining.  I think the value of the Gurney's catalog is in the imagining.  Imagining being able to dig in the dirt and smell the richness in your hands as you squeeze the soil aside to make room for the tiny seeds that will, one day, grow up to be a 12 foot tall sunflower.  Imagining that the deer will not invade your garden and nip off every sunflower plant when they're about a foot tall.  Imagining the taste of that first tomato as you pop it into your mouth and the seeds burst against the back of your teeth.  Imagine warm sunshine, birds singing, puffy white clouds forming shapes in the sky, and the sore hamstrings you get from working in the garden all day.  I love my Gurney's catalog because it seeds imagination into my wintery brain. 

Top 10 Ways To Know You Got a Cold

10.  Your eyes water when you are not crying.
9.  You look forward to the feeling when the Nyquil starts to kick in.
8.  You bring out the "special" box of tissue (Puffs Plus).
7.  Dirty kleenex falls out of your sleeves when you take off your clothes to go to bed.
6.  Your normal 48 ounces of liquid that you finish by 11:30 a.m. are gone by 9 a.m.
5.  You lay one one side or another in bed depending on which nostril is more congested.
4.  You feel as though there is an extra three pounds of weight under your forehead.
3.  Your palate gets dry from breathing with your mouth open.
2.  The skin between your nose and mouth is a bright cherry color.
1. You feel like your upper molars are being sucked up toward your eyeballs when you blow your nose.

Not So Easy



This necklace is similar to one I admired in a catalog in November. 
I saw it, wanted it, and decided I didn't need it. 
Offspring #1 bought it for me for my birthday?  How did he know? 
I love it.



Last year I wrote a goal about listing the birds I saw for 2011: "I don't expect to see over 200 in Minnesota and maybe another fifty in the Galapagos Islands.  If I get to 250 by December, 2011, I will be very pleased." 

My total of birds seen by December, 2011 was 168.  And 168 was a lot of work and involved trips to New Mexico and the Galapagos Islands.  This year I am not aiming for a number but to continue to list the birds and appreciate the ones I am able to see.   My other goal is to live my life as if it could end soon.  I have lost some people near and dear to me this year.  No one knows what the future holds.  No more procrastinating on the good times for me.

A Snowy Walk

Snow fell on New Year's Eve. I went outside to explore the snow about 9 in the evening.  The flakes were huge and three dimensional.  Each flake was as large as a  tablespoon and melted onto my jacket.  No wind blew and the atmosphere was very quiet except for the splotchy flakes of snow falling.  I walked on the paths I have mowed through the front yard, into the woods to the east of the house, down the hill to the side street, up the hill past the compost pile, and along the southern property edge.  The Christmas lights my neighbors displayed were blurred and made prettier by the falling snow.  When I wanted to taste some clean snow, I didn't have to use my hands.  Each branch and twig held a convenient mouthful for me.  I checked on Meredith as I walked by.  She was cozy and warm on her fresh pile of wood shavings.  The snow, it deadens all sounds and wipes away all mistakes and imperfections, temporarily making our world fresh and clean.  Sometimes snow can be magical.

Project Feeder Watch

Red Bellied woodpecker-1, Hairy Woodpecker-1, Downy woodpecker-1, Junco=4, Goldfinch-6, Black capped chickadee-5, White breated nuthatch-1, Northern Cardinal-2, American Crows-2