My Third Foe

I try to be a good steward of my property.  I aim to make the yard a nature friendly place.  Tonight, as I mowed, I surveyed my yard and found my third foe.  My first foe was poison ivy.  I don't like poison ivy because I am allergic to it and end up in urgent care almost every summer and coming out of there with a couple prescriptions.  I poison the poison ivy every year and although it's not gone completely, I have knocked it back quite a bit.  It's an ongoing battle.  My second foe was and is buckthorn - an invasive species that crowds out the native plants.  It's everywhere.  I've cut it and poisoned the stumps the last two falls and I have a whole lot more to do. Tonight I recognized my third foe.  And this one really bugs me because it wasn't a problem until I planted it myself - amur maple.   I wanted a hedge. I wanted something that grew thick to add to the privacy of the yard. And I wanted something natural in appearance-not one of the closely clipped formal hedges.   I didn't know what kind of hedge to get.  I thought I made a careful and informed decision.    I read books.  I studied nursery pamphlets.  I even went out to the University of Minnesota arboretum to look at their hedge collection firsthand.  (I remember this trip distinctly because I accidentally dropped my car keys among the hedges and I had to search long and hard to find them again).   I decided on amur maple because of their growth pattern and pretty color in the fall.  Plus they were cheap.  Arborvitae was my second choice.   I got 25 amur maple plants from the soil and water conservation district.  Now that I have quit mowing so much of the yard I see that amur maple is also an invasive species.  I have thousands of amur maple trees growing everywhere.  They're everywhere!  I am considering cutting them all down; removing that privacy hedge.  Some of these amur maples are now 20 feet high.  I think I will get some advice from some people who know more about this than I do.

That Awkward Moment

I had an awkward moment today.  I was in a meeting with a group, listening to a woman with dark hair and bangs covering her eyes.  She listened with her face turned down to the table.  She looked up at me with her big eyes and gave a snarky, dead pan, sarcastic comment.  In my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh, I can't believe it.  I'm sitting with April Ludgate and I didn't even know it before.  How could I have missed it?"  April Ludgate, in case you don't know, is the apathetic, snarky, capable but under performing employee on the "Parks and Rec" sitcom.  April Ludgate is very unusual and so is this woman I know.  I'm so into my own discovery that I don't listen to a thing she is saying.  I ask her to repeat.  She rolls her eyes at me (JUST LIKE APRIL LUDGATE WOULD HAVE DONE) and repeats herself again but I'm not listening because I'm so entertained by her eye rolling.  Awkward.  So I just smile and pretend I heard her.  I hope I don't accidentally call her April because that would be even more awkward.  Some people ask me how I can stand going to so many meetings.  They have no idea just how entertaining meetings can be sometimes.  People fascinate me.  I can't believe I didn't recognize April Ludgate before.

Preparing

For the last two summers, thanks to the support and companionship of friends and family, I've been able to participate in the Mississippi River Challenge - a two day canoe or kayak trip/fundraiser for "Friends of the Mississippi River."  This year, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it.  I didn't have my former paddling friends this year.  Lucky for me, in talking with another master naturalist, I found a traveling companion.  The trip is back on!  I am excited!   This year, to avoid accidentally allowing Asian carp into the locks (while trying to support the natural beauty of the river) the trip is not starting in Coon Rapids.  Instead we are starting in Bloomington and spending the first day on the Minnesota River.  The second day will be the same - starting at Fort Snelling and paddling down to Cottage Grove.  A 22 mile per day trip is not really easy but not really hard either.  There is no hurry and we're going with the current.  A kayak is easier on my back than a canoe.  And I've got strong arms.  What I don't have is strong skin on my palms.  Both years, by the last break on Sunday afternoon, I had blisters on my palms that really bother me.  I wear gloves the entire two day trip and I still get blisters.  Last year I put "Nu Skin" liquid bandage on my palms to help protect them plus the gloves and I still got blisters.  My blisters show up at the base of my fingers.  It's not an easy spot to bandage and protect.  So this year, I'm going to prepare by toughening up my palms.  Usually I wear gloves when I mow, shovel, hoe and rake.  Not this summer. I'm going gloveless.  I am going to grow me some calluses.  No more baby-soft hands for me.

Finally

Finally I got most of the garden in - tomatoes (better boy), red onions, red potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, green peppers, jalapeno, and sunflowers.  I still have room for pumpkins, squash or corn.  I've got  "behind the thigh gardener's ache" in both legs.  I started some plants inside.  The 3 dozen coleus plants were all starts from last years plants so I've been monkeying with them since September. I also started some morning glories.  I'm glad to get them out of the house and into the soil.  It feels good to work in the garden.  Pulling weeds and planting seeds puts me in a meditative and relaxed state of being. 

Just Like Me- Suck In the Gut For The Camera

Six Chicks

Chick in the mail.

Chick in a pail.

Chick on some soap.

Chick on some rope.

Chick by a star.

Chick on a car.

Chick on a pop.

Chick on a mop.

Picking Up Chicks

I picked up some chicks in Zimmerman tonight.  They arrived in the mail on Wednesday so that makes their birthday (hatch day?) May 22, 2012.  The chicks look identical.  They have tawny heads - like the color of a wheat field in the fall.  Their backs are slightly lighter in color and their abdomens are a creamy beige.  All their feathers are downy with the exception of some really short wing feathers.   The chicks look comfortable in their new home (a blue recycling box).  I've got the heat lamp on them and will try to keep them around 90 degrees for the first week.  They peep very softly.  I took six.  Since 2 of the group I took them from were roosters and I couldn't distinguish the males from the females, I thought six was a good number.  If it turns out I got both roosters, I can cull them and still have four females.  My coop holds 4 to 6 full grown chickens.  If all six turn out to be females, then I will have to do something because I still have Meredith and seven is a large group for that coop.  Chickens don't get along with each other if they are introduced later in life. If I tried to add two females in six months, they would not get along.  Even introducing them a week later can lead to life-long turmoil and hen-pecking.  I hope Meredith gets along with this group.  I have seen her sitting on eggs so that makes me think she has maternal instincts.  And she might be lonely by herself all the time.  I'm not sure if I should introduce her to them now or wait until they're older and can fend better for themselves. Eventually these new chicks will be bigger than her so it may be to her advantage to introduce them now.  I will show Meredith her new sisters and see how she does with them tomorrow.  She can't be with them all the time.  They need the warmth and 90 degrees would be too hot and too confining for her.  Today is a big day for me.  My responsibilities as a pet owner quadrupled.  I went from 1 canary and 1 hen to 1 canary, one hen, and six buff Orpington chicks.

Dakota Uprising of 1862 or We Humans Never Learn

Person number 82 killed in New Ulm during the Dakota Uprising, buried in the street, and later exhumed and moved to the Pioneer Cemetery.






This white buffalo (in Reconciliation Park)  marks the spot in Mankato were 38 Indians were hung until they died. 



In my travels last weekend I learned much about the Dakota Uprising in 1862.  Despite growing up and going to school in Minnesota, I hadn't heard much about this.  38 Indians were hung to death as a result of this conflict - the largest one day execution in the United States.  Is genocide too strong of a word?  We learned about racism in school but that referred to the southern states like Mississippi and Georgia.  We never applied it to our own culture in the Midwest.  Because we didn't discuss 1862, it's as if it never existed.  This makes me very interested.  To learn from mistakes, the actions have to be discussed and examined.  As we toured New Ulm with our very capable history center volunteer, she told us many sides of the same story.  The year was 1862.  Our country was in a civil war. Many men from Minnesota were serving our nation in the south.  Some southerners, knowing there was a war in Minnesota and knowing they had Minnesota troops in their prison camp, being equally prejudiced against Indians and blacks, released the Minnesota boys if they promised to go home and fight the Indians.  We had a treaty with the Dakota tribe.  In exchange for land we would provide blankets, food and money.  Because our nation was at war,  and because some Indian agents were corrupt, we didn't have the money to honor that agreement.  The Indians, without their land and without the buffalo, were starving to death.  The trust between the Indians and the white people went down.  An Indian agent, Thomas Galbraith, had the blankets and food designated for the Indians but refused to hand it over without being paid.  When asked what the Indians should do, he suggested they "eat grass."  Later he was found dead, his mouth filled with grass.  The local settlers were unaware that the treaty was not being honored. Two angry braves were in the countryside.  One stole 5 eggs from a farm.  The other brave told him he shouldn't have done that.  The brave responded he could steal eggs and he could kill the farm family too.  And then he killed the farm family.  The two braves returned to their encampment and told the tribe what they had done.  Reactions varied.  Some Indians wanted to fight.  Starving to death, they felt they did not have much to lose. They wanted all white people to leave the area.  Now, with many men serving in the Civil War, was the right time to attack. Little Crow, the leader of the tribe, said this was impossible.  He knew if the Indians killed white people, they would lose.  More white people would come to fight until all was lost.  Little Crow was accused of being weak.  Hungry and desperate, most of the Indians wanted to fight.  So Little Crow went along with the majority, knowing in his heart it was a lost cause.  Not every Indian wanted to start this battle.  One white family was known for their honesty in running their store, trading furs for goods.  The Indians helped that white family pack their belongings and head into New Ulm to be safe with the rest of the town.  The white people in New Ulm blocked off a three by two block area. They set up a barricade with whatever they could get their hands on - wagons, boards, mattresses, etc.  Three of the buildings in that 3 block area still stand today.  For five days the battle raged.  The people inside the barricade were starving.  A baker, seeing his shop across the street from the barricaded area, went into his shop to bake bread and bring it back.  To get back inside the barricade safely, he threw a buffalo hide over himself.  Under the buffalo hide and holding loaves of bread, he was mistaken for an Indian when he returned and was killed by friendly fire.  Some of the sick and wounded perished inside the barricade.  For sanitary reasons they were temporarily buried in the streets.  Later they were exhumed and moved to the pioneer cemetery at the edge of town.  Those people's graves are marked with numbered white stone circles.  After five days, the remaining survivors abandoned New Ulm and did not return for six months.  The battle went on for months not only in New Ulm, Mankato, but all the way from Iowa to the Canadian border.  By the end the remaining Indians were forced to march to Fort Snelling.  Many of them died along the way.  300 Indians were sentenced to death by hanging.  President Abraham Lincoln pardoned all but 38.  38 Indians were hung in Mankato on the same day.  People came to watch the hangings.  Medical doctors, including William Mayo (father of the famour Mayo brothers) dug up the bodies of the 38 Indians for medical study. Little Crow, the leader of the Dakota, was not punished.  He was shot to death about year later as he visited his former home near Hutchinson.  At that time there was a bounty for any Indians found in the area.  He was shot so his killer could collect the $25 bounty.  The museum had a first hand account by an 11 year old boy who was held for ransom by the Indians.  He had the very white hair common to Norwegian stock.  He was teased by the other boys (both white and Indian) for his white head of hair.  His Indian caretaker, a woman, tried to help him out by rubbing the red soil onto his head, trying to darken his hair.  He said he was treated well by the Indians during his capture.  And he never saw any of the white women (also held captive) molested by any Indians.  Not every captive had such a good experience.  I read the Wikipedia account of the Dakota Uprising.  I think the "first hand accounts" section is unnecessarily shocking and slanted.  I am tempted to write to the Minnesota Historical Society and ask them to amend it.  Why have I never heard this story before?   The older I get the more disgusted I am by what I learned in history class in school.  In August of this year New Ulm and other towns along the Minnesota river are marking the 150th anniversary of the Uprising with a variety of learning experiences and cultural events.  I heard the Minnesota History Center is also noting the anniversary.  If you want to learn more about the Dakota Uprising, this summer would be an excellent time to study it.

All Of You

Photo credit Master Naturalist Facebook page

At our last lunch during the Master Naturalist conference I was asked what was the highlight of the weekend for me.  Easy question.  It's the people.  I can walk into that conference room with 20+ tables that sit 6 people and feel comfortable sitting down at any table and being welcomed into that group.  We all share common interests. Some of these people I've worked with on projects.  Other people I see only once a year.  I've never felt so included by people I barely know. We're an awesome group.  That is me right above the loon on the sign.  Funny story.  The photographer stood on an upper level to take this photo.  He was wearing cargo shorts.  When he yelled down, "Okay, I can see all of you!" someone yelled back, "And we can see all of you too."  We could see right up his pants legs.  Lucky for us it's dark up there.  When he heard that we could see all of him, he put his camera down, looked us straight in the eye and without a smile did a grinding motion with his right leg.  The way he did it let us know this was not the first time he made this particular move.  It was hysterically funny which is why some of us have glistening eyes.  I laughed so hard I cried. 

They Should Make An App For That

Dear Readers, 

Today is your lucky day.  I am giving away, free of any charge, a million dollar idea.  Take it and run.  What we need is a personal gift registry app.  I go to a store, any store, and see something I like.  I capture the bar code with my phone and the item I want (including size and color) is added to my personal gift registry.  All my friends, family and people of my choosing can see my gift registry.  If I change my mind, I can take the item off my list.  If someone gives me that item I can remove it from my list.  Whether I am in a local hardware store, department store, drug store, pawn shop or a gift shack in Timbuktu, I can add items to my personal gift registry.  Gone will be those empty headed moments when someone asks, "What do you want for Christmas?"  That is how we all end up with socks at holiday time-we can't think of something better when we're asked spur of the moment like that.  No more will siblings have to call each other to try and determine what a parent would want as a gift.  You think this will take the wonderful surpise element out of presents?  I disagree.  Who's going to remember what items they put on their gift registry two years ago?  Even if a gift giver doesn't give you a gift from your registry, they can learn your likes and dislikes by studying your registry choices.  They will know your favorite colors, style, and correct size.   And if you do get a gift that makes you inwardly cringe and the giver had access to your gift registry, well, let's just say you've learned quite a bit about them.  You can't tell me you haven't had those moments when your mouth is saying, "Thank you so much.  I'm honored,"  while inside you're thinking "This is going to the Goodwill."  Stores will save money with fewer returns and the prices of merchandise will go down.  Everyone will win with this new app.  It's a million dollar idea.  Now, if only Tracfone would add that feature to their prepaid phones. 

A Thread So Thin

I didn't realize A Thread So Thin was the second book of a series until I finished reading it.  I had my suspicions though. Sometimes the author would hint at things she hadn't really told us about.  Well, that was because this is the second book and she is assuming we already know the characters.  Two of the main characters are Liza and her Aunt Abigail.  Sometimes I think authors write about people they really don't like to make a better story.  In this case, I didn't like Liza or Abigail. Liza is an EXtremely passive college student who can't make a decision to save her life. She lets other people decide for her while pretending she cares.  Her duplicity is as maddening as Abigail's controlling snobbery.  As it turns out, there are reasons these women are acting a little crazy and neither one of them is typically as annoying as they are during most of the story.  I might go back and read Marie Bostwick's first story about Abigail and Liza-haven't decided yet.

Busy Saturday

This is Herman the German who overlooks the town of New Ulm. 

This marks the grave of a victim of the Dakota Conflict in1862

Minneopa Falls

Today was a busy day for me.  I spent the morning learning about dragon flies and damsel flies.  After lunch we took a tour of New Ulm.  I wasn't disappointed that we couldn't go the Schells brewery but other people were.  We stopped at the museum and the Herman the German statue. I was surprised to learn that Herman is the second largest state in our country.  I climbed the 99 stairs to be a good view of the Minnesota river valley and the town of New Ulm. We toured the Pioneer cemetery.   We drove around the town admiring the German architecture.  We had a walking tour through downtown and an explanation of the Dakota Uprising that happened 150 years ago this year.  That story deserve a separate blog entry.  We then went to Minneopa State Park to admire the falls and have a picnic supper.  Then I had an 8 block walk back to my room at the Butler House.  Whew!

Lights At the Butler House

Lights on the veranda welcome me back

Lights on the stairwell guide me to my room

And a trumpet light shines next to the bed. 

Blarney

Today I headed for Mankato for the annual Master Naturalist convention. After a morning spent exercising and mowing the lawn, I packed up my things and got ready to go.  I debated taking the motorcycle.  I even planned a route where I could avoid the high speeds of Highway 169.  When I heard there was a chance of rain on Sunday I decided against the motorcycle.  Rain would be no fun and put me at a higher level of risk than is comfortable for me.  Just as i am about to leave I see a message on my phone.  A friend wonders if we could carpool.  Excellent!  I call her back and we're off to Mankato together.  I am staying at the Butler Bed and Breakfast.  My room is the Blarney room.  Here is my view from the wicker couches on the wide veranda.  Excellent!

Thinking Ahead

When my Buff Orpington chicks come at the end of this month, they're going to need names.  Last time I named my chicks after characters from the television show, the Office.  I don't want to use those names again but it was a fun way to remember which hen was which hen.  This time I thought I'd use the names Claire, Gloria, Haley, Alex and/or Lily (Modern Family).  A friend of mine suggested Charlene, Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne Sugarbaker and Mary Jo.  In case any of you youngsters are reading this, they're from an old show named Designing Women.  I like the strong female characters in that show but I think it would be weird to name a pet chicken Suzanne-it sorta has that George Forman vibe to it.  Or I could name the chickens (because the color buff is a little like gold) Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia-the Golden Girls!  So now I am thinking - how about Nora Batty, Ivy, Pearl, Glenda and/or Marina?  These women are from the British series Last of The Summer Wine.  Does anyone else have suggestions for me to consider?

My Only Complaint

With the nice weather we've had lately, I've been using the motorcycle to get around.  I was cruising down a scenic road in Coon Rapids the other day we I felt that sputtering feeling AGAIN.  Acceleration varies even though I'm holding the throttle steady.  I ran out of gas.  I have run out of gas on this bike at least half a dozen times.  I never ran out of gas on my old bike.  So I turn the gas to the reserve tank and start off again.  How can I be out of gas?  I filled it up only a couple days ago.  Since then I've only ridden to work twice, right?  My commute to work and home is about 30 miles.  Wait a minute, I did take the long way home once. And oh, yeah, I did go to a graduation party in Roseville.  Maybe I did put on over 100 miles since the last trip to the gas station.  Once I have the gas lever on reserve, I am a nervous Nelly until I fill up again.  I used to think the gas intake was too high on the gas tank but when I looked it up, my tank only holds 2.8 gallons.  I added 2.2 gallons so I had about a half gallon left.  I can't relax if the tank is on reserve.  The small gas tank is, so far, my only complaint about this bike.  How am I going to ride it around Lake Superior if I have to stop every 100 miles?  I'll have to stop at nearly every gas station I see. 

Dear Ruby Throated Hummingbird,

I suspected you were back for the past week because someone has been drinking the nectar.  On Sunday I saw your pretty face.  Welcome back.  You must be exhausted after flying across the Gulf of Mexico.   Feel free to use my yard to raise your family and spend your summer.  Consider this yard your territory but don't be surprised if another male wants to share the nectar.  I don't use very many pesticides so there should be plenty of bugs for your mate to feed her young.  When I go shopping for flowers, I will look for some with red, tubular blossoms.  I will put those on the deck close to the nectar. I promise to wash the nectar container between fillings.  And I hope I don't come across as a creepy stalker here but I would love to observe your "dive display" courtship behavior.  Just sayin.

Most Sincerely,

Orange Sue

Photos From My Flight Lesson

Our Plane

The Instruments I Never Looked At

My House Is Circled In Yellow

This view puts all my problems in their proper perspective.

Traffic backed up on Hanson Boulevard

Another Morning Dedicated to Birdwatching

Today my bird class went back to Carlos Avery hoping to see more birds.  Despite the calm winds, blue sky, and moderate temperatures, there weren't nearly as many birds as we had hoped.  We saw common yellow throat, goldfinches, pileated woodpeckers, crows, red winged blackbirds, a beautiful scarlet tanager (plus we had a long look at it), great blue herons, cliff swallows, red bellied woodpeckers, swamp sparrows, ovenbird, Northern flicker, trumpter swans, song sparrows, Canadian geese (with goslings), a green heron, wood ducks mother and her babies, brown headed cowbirds, chestnut sided warbler, yellow warbler, coots, mallards, rose breasted grossbeaks, baltimore orioles, tree swallows, American redstart, blue jays, pied billed grebe, catbirds, scaup, blue winged teal, green winged teal, bald eagle, semi-palmated sandpiper, least sandpiper, bank swallows, great egret, sand hill cranes, bluebirds, house wren, brown thrasher, chickadee, Eastern kingbird, kestrel, and ringed neck ducks.  Plus we saw several deer and 6 map turtles.  I think I enjoyed the scarlet tanager the most.  That and spending the morning outside with other people having a good time.

Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder

OMG!  My flight lesson was (sing it) AWESOME!  From the moment I walked into Twin Cities Aviation humming the Air Force song until the moment I left, I had a great time.  My flight instructor was handsome and helpful and gave me glowing marks on my flying skills.  I am terrible with names and I can't remember his but that doesn't mean he was a superb teacher.  First I filled out a form where I put my name under the line "Pilot."  We did a thorough pre-flight inspection including removing samples of air fuel from about a dozen ports to make sure it was clean, water free, and the blue color it is supposed to be.  We flew a little Cessna, um, I think it was a 175.  I'll post a photo later.  Inside we were in there tight together.  I wore a seat belt with a shoulder strap just like in a car. He had me sit in the driver's seat (if it was a car) which made me a little nervous but he had a full set of controls too. He showed me the main six dials I should watch. He called it the six pack.  I couldn't see over the dash so he pumped my chair as high as it goes.  I still couldn't see over the dash.  I asked, "Do I need a phone book?"  He said I was close enough now.  The ignition is just like a car and on my side so he had me turn it on.  I cranked it to the right while  he adjusted the handle that is like a choke but not a choke.  I can't remember the exact word he used.  The prop was turning now.  We put on our headphones and adjusted the mouthpieces until we could hear each other talk.  One strange thing about planes is that on the ground you fly with only your feet and no hands.  Later, when you are in the air, you fly with only your hands and not your feet.  Once we got on a longer runway he had me drive the plane with my feet.  Press the left pedal to go left and the right pedal to go right - a lot like a sea kayak with rudder controls.  The wind was gusty and kept pushing the plane to the left so I had to compensate with pushing more on the right pedal.  I had a wide road and I tried to keep the center line right under the plane.  Like steering a motorized boat or a canoe, sometimes I overcompensated.  He said I did really well.  "Most people end up in the tulips."  I think he meant the grass.  Soon it was our turn to go up.  We were to head south to start.  As soon as we got above 5500 something or other, I was to pull back on the controls to go up.  I can't even see over the top of the dashboard.  I wasn't watching no stinking instruments.  He took us up in the air and then he had me fly up and to the south.  Oh, my.  Flying an aircraft is so multi-dimensional.  And the gusty winds were freaking me out a little.  Oh, the nose is going down!  What do I do?  Pull back on the yoke.  Oh, we're going too high!  What do I do?  Push back on the yoke.  Oh, we're going too far to the right?  What do I do?  Turn left.  Before I can think these thoughts, my hands are doing the right thing.  My feet feel useless and clumsy - they're no help at all.  I need all my limbs to do this because this is hard!!!!!  We get up to 2,500 feet.  He said we were there - I was concentrating too hard to look at that.  He tells me to turn left now.  I say, "Okay."  He said we can turn up to 50 degrees safely,  I turn about 3 or maybe 5 degrees.  He says, "Let me make the turn and then you fly again."  Whoa! He turns and my wing goes way down.  What the heck?  He gives me the controls again once we can go straight.  To say I am a slow turner is a complete understatement.  I can see Bunker Lake Boulevard and Bunker Lake Park.  I ask how fast we're flying.  He tells me the knots (which I can't remember) and says it's equivalent to 130 mph.  Wow, it doesn't feel that fast.  I tell him a friend of mine suggested I ask to do a loop and to feel a negative G force. He looks at me and says, "You have a very daring friend, don't you?"  I said yes.  He says loops are out of the question.  Not allowed. I admit that is okay with me.  He says we can do a negative G force though.  He asks if we know where we are.  I can't tear my eyes away from the horizon to look, for god's sake, it's taking all my senses to fly this thing right.  He doesn't even have his hands on the controls.  I can see Round Lake and Round Lake Boulevard.  I tell him we should see the Rum River and that is when we'll turn north.  I tell him the river is very windy.  He sees the river and tells me to turn right.  I turn right but by the time I get around to north we'll be in Elk River.  I tell him he should drive now and I will navigate.  We find the golf course.  I tell him my house is between the water tower and the river.  He dips down to 1000 feet.  My ears pop again.  I can see Dysprosium street pretty clearly but my house is obscured by trees.  Suddenly I get a glimpse of yellow.  Such a smart decision to choose yellow siding. Go me!  I take a ton of pictures.  the glare is so strong I can't see how any photos turned out so I keep snapping photos of the river, landmarks I recognize, and traffic stopped up on highway 65.  Suddenly he points out the runway ahead of us.  I ask, "Is it too late to do a negative G force?"  He smiles.  "Nope," he says.  HOLY MOLEY!  I AM WEIGHTLESS!  As my butt lifts off my seat and I feel the seat belt hold me down it's all I can do not to swear.  So I scream a little.  It's 100 times more than an poor elevator.  It's 10 times more than a roller coaster.  And then it was over.  "I didn't swear," I tell him.  I had no idea what I was asking for when I asked for negative G force. He says that probably was mostly zero G force (weightlessness) and just a tiny bit negative G force.  Even though the wind is pushing us around, he lands very smoothly and we taxi back to our spot.  We get out.  I kinda want to lie down on the tarmac and compose myself but I don't.  I have some class.  We go back into the hangar.  I thank him very sincerely.  We shake hands and I get in my car.  And there I can relax.  Driving a car seems SO EASY!  No up and down to worry about.  Just accelerating and steering is easy peasy in one dimension..  My heart is still beating fast and it takes several miles of driving my car to calm myself down and get rid of the extra adrenaline in my system.  That was exciting.  That was fun.  Do I want to take more flight lessons?  No, thanks. 

Scientific Conversions

1. Ratio of an igloo’s circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi



2. 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton


3. 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope


4. Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1 bananosecond


5. Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram


6. Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour = Knotfurlong


7. 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Sterling


8. Half of a large intestine = 1 semicolon


9. 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz


10. Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower


11. Shortest distance between two jokes = A straight line


12. 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake


13. 1 million-million microphones = 1 megaphone


14. 2 million bicycles = 2 megacycles


15. 365.25 days = 1 unicycle


16. 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds


17. 52 cards = 1 decacards


18. 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 FigNewton
Thanks Bitsandpieces.us

Impulse Buy

I impulsively bought another groupon coupon that involves being off the ground.  The first one was for a hot air balloon ride  This one is for a flight lesson at the Blaine Airport.  The coupon was 51% off. The lesson lasts 90 minutes of which 30 are spent in the air.  Geez, what have I done?  I think I will be fine.  I've been in small planes before.  My plan is to request to fly over my house and take a picture.  I also hope to poke a fluffy white cloud.  I know clouds are like fog but I still want to poke one and make it rain.  Or else I could land the plane on the cloud, get out and walk around like an angel. I wonder what it would be like to fly.  Soon I will know.

Left Neglected

My book club read Left Neglected by Lisa Genova.  The same author, a Harvard trained neuroscientist, wrote Still Alice which was about Alzheimer's Disease.  Left Neglected is about a condition called left neglect - something people can get after traumatic brain injuries or strokes.  Although they can see to their left, the brain does not accept any information on the left.  The left side of the plate goes uneaten and unrecognized even when hungry.  The jewelry on the left hand is unseen.  The entire left arm is ignored to the point where people come out of the bathroom unaware their left hand is tucked into their underpants.  Lisa Genova explains the left neglect condition through her story of a type A busy executive mother of three who gets into a car accident while reaching for her cell phone.  Her life changes dramatically from 12 hour work days and arranging day care to learning how to walk, dress herself, and read a sentence from a book.  Not only is this great fiction but it's educational too.  Good book!

Finally

I was about to give up on the orange tulips I planted last fall.  I thought Menards sold me some duds.  But I was wrong.  The orange tulips are just blooming now, a month later than the purple ones I planted.  They may be late but they sure are pretty.  I did some weeding today now that the ground was softened by almost two inches of rain on Saturday.  I uncovered some wildlife-angleworms, green shiny beetles, ants, and cutworms.  The cutworms were launched into space from the garden and landed in the prairie part of the yard.  For a cutworm, a 15 foot trip must seem like a very long commute. 

Monday Bird Class

 

On Monday afternoon, our bird class met at the Coon Rapids dam.  The time of day and the windy weather made for poor bird watching.  We did see the osprey incubating her eggs on the Hennepin side of the river.  We also saw mallards, blue winged teal, bald eagles, robins, red winged blackbirds, tree swallows, cliff swallows, goldfinches, chipping sparrows and yellow rumped warblers.  Our next trip is on Saturday morning and we will go to Carlos Avery where I am sure we will see lots of species.  I am hoping for a wave of warblers. 

Effort

Bird Trip

It feels like this week has been at least 18 days long.  When I took my dirty laundry out of my hamper to wash clothes, I was surprised to see an outfit that I swore I wore more than a week ago.  I had a really busy week.  It didn't help that I worked 15 1/2 hours yesterday (which is very unusual for me) and had to get up early this morning for bird class. Oh, the alarm clock seemed especially cruel at 6 a.m.  But I am glad I got up because we saw a lot of cool birds at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.  We saw a lot of red winged blackbirds who fill up the air with sounds.  We saw robins, song sparrows, lark sparrows, a Harris sparrow, a meadowlark, a Cooper's hawk, a bald eagle, a kestrel, several Eastern towhees, goldfinches, tree swallows, barn swallows, common yellow throat, yellow rumped warblers, two yellow warblers, Canadian geese, blue winged teal, mallards, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, a great blue heron, a kingfisher, phoebe, morning doves, ring necked ducks, a pied billed grebe, blue jays, cowbirds, lesser yellow legs, killdeer, a Tennessee warbler, 4 kingbirds, half a dozen brown thrashers, a yellow eyed vireo, a rose breasted gross beak, scaup, and, last but not least, the piece de resistance, the ultimate bird sighting of the day, a great horned owl.  It was 11 a.m. and we had been birding for four hours already.  We came to mile 6 on the wildlife drive.  Our driver quietly said, "Owl."  She uncharacteristically jerked the car to a stop by slamming the transmission into park.  She was out of her Buick LeSabre and had her spotting scope out of the trunk in one swift motion.  Normally she doesn't move this fast.  There she had the great horned owl (that I could not even find with my binoculars yet) in the spotting scope. All four of us had a great look at it.  The other and larger half of our group had to run to the gas station because they were nearly out of gas.  So they missed seeing this owl.  As I watched in the scope, the yellow eyed owl acted nervous. I think he knew we were watching.  He flew off his curved branch through the woods and onto a lower position where we couldn't see him.  We praised and hugged our teacher for this owl sighting.  What an exciting moment. Some people see owls in the wild all the time.  I don't.  For me, this was very special. 

Who Remembers These?

From left:  Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose, Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, and Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan).  The show played from 1955 to 1984.  Funny how the Captain never seemed to get any older. He was like Dick Clark that way.  I used to love the Captain Kangaroo Show.



Run

Run was written by Ann Patchett.  I read it because people in my book club really liked her novel Bel Canto.  And although I enjoyed this story, I'm not impressed enough to recommend it to others.  Ann Patchett writes well.  Her character development varies.  As I read it I felt the story was implausible.  The plot didn't have a true feeling to it.  Bernard Doyle, the family patriarch and former mayor of Boston, didn't feel real to me.  His three sons, Sullivan, Tip and Teddy felt a little more real.  The other characters, Kenya, Tenessee, Bernadette and Uncle Sullivan lack full structure.  Run is a good book to pass the time but not a page turner or a book where you think about the characters for days after you have finished it.

Dancing

Last night was my dance class - the Thriller/Michael Jackson line dance.  I had an absolute blast.  We had a great teacher. She was funny, encouraging, talented, and enthusiastic.  The older I get the more I realize how much I appreciate enthusiasm in a teacher.  All you teachers out there - don't hold back your enthusiasm.  I love it.  We had 13 students ranging from late teens to sixties I guess.  We had two sets of couples (one late teenagers and the other in their early 40's).  We had a mother with two daughters. The mother arranged a surprise evening for her daughters (late teens/early 20's). She took them out for dessert and then to the dance class.  Her daughters had no idea what they were getting into but they loved it.  Our teacher asked us why we came.  I came because I love Michael Jackson music. I dance to it every weekend anyway when I clean the house.  Now I can pretend I'm one of his back up dancers!  One older woman said she was here for the line dance class and what was Thriller and who was Michael Jackson?   She did fairly well considering she was expecting to hear country music.  One person came because it was more fun that watching television.  I had to agree with that.  Our teacher led us through two moves at a time. Then she paired them and we practiced.  Gradually our paired sets of moves grew longer until we had all the moves down.  She made the moves into a story so we could remember them better.  And she had a unique way of teaching.  For example, one move she called the "Michael Jackson" move.  We stood with feet apart and most of our weight on the right leg, left toe touching the ground.  Our right hand lays flat on the front of the right hip (not over the crotch but over the right hip).  The left arm is extended straight except the hand dangles down at the wrist.  For three counts we contract the buttocks, rock our hips and simultaneously lift our left hand as if a puff of wind pushed it up.  As she does this she says, "Squeeze!  Squeeze!  Squeeze!" in a high pitched and unforgettable voice.  What a hoot!  Our class was in a middle school gymnasium and it was hot and humid in there.  We were worn out after an hour and a half of dancing.  I was glad my body cooperated and I could enjoy the evening.  Our instructor asked for suggestions for future classes.  The older woman suggested country line dance.  I suggested Beyonce's "Put A Ring On It." 

Thriller Dance Class Tonight

 Wish me luck!