So Cold

Lately it has been so cold I can feel the moisture on my eyeballs get thick when I go outside.  It's so cold I can't help but zip my coat over my chin and mouth and mutter like Yosemite Sam.  But I found a new way to cope with the cold.  Into my favorite winter drink (no sugar added hot cocoa) I stir two shakes of ground cayenne pepper.  Holy shamoley, that is one hot drink.  I love it.

I Was Singing At Work

For some reason a coworker and I sang the entire chorus to this song at work in the breakroom the other day.  After the chorus I continued with the scat singing.  Normally I'm not a singer in public; not even in church when everyone else sings.  I don't know what came over me. 

She Parked In My Spot

I was early arriving to work this morning.  As I drove into the parking lot I saw someone had parked in my spot.  That thought has absolutely no bearing on what happened next.  As I went to pull in next to the Honda CRV who was parking in my spot, I totally lost control of my car because the parking lot was temporarily an ice rink; slick and smooth without a smidgen of traction.  I was about 7 car lengths away and driving slow.  When you are sitting in a vehicle that weighs 2,744 pounds and have no control of it even though the steering wheel is in your hands and the brake pedal is under your foot, it's a scary feeling.  I thought to myself, "Seriously?  This is not happening.  This is NOT HAPPENIN . . . Oh, yes, it just happened."  AiCarumba! I parked next to her and looked.  My front bumper put a dimple into her rear passenger side bumper.  I didn't know for sure it was a woman but most of the workers here are women.  I saw no damage to my car.  And yes, to be completely honest, I did consider parking several rows away and walking in as if nothing happened.  But I didn't.  I didn't want to be that person.  I wanted to be the kind of person who hits me next time.  I parked next to my victim and went in to confess to the property management person.   He grumbled about the parking lot not being salted.  He said he would talk to the Community Service Officer (CSO).   I wrote a note apologizing and giving her my contact information.  Another car almost slammed into her car as I was putting the note on the windshield.  I told the CSO officer she parked in my spot.  He laughed and said she deserved it.  The CSO looked up her plates and tracked down where she worked.  While I was in a meeting I saw my victim walk out to her car, take the note off her windshield, and walk around looking at the damage.   She called me. I apologized again.  She understood.  It was an ice rink when she parked too.  She said she would get an estimate for a bumper at the auto body and give me a call.  I said I would be glad to pay for her bumper.   This was not the best way to start the day but very, very far from the worst.  When I think about it, today may have cost me a few bucks but it also gave me a chance to be who I want to be.

Project Feederwatch Update

Pileated woodpecker-1, Northern Flicker (photo)-1, Hairy woodpecker-2, Downy Woodpecker-2, Red bellied Woodpecker-2, American Crow-2, Black Capped Chickadee-4, White breasted Nuthatch-4, Common Redpoll-5, Goldfinch-4, Dark Eyed Junco-2, Blue Jay-1

Self Indulgence At The Grocery Store

New Recipe

Here is a new recipe I adapted a little bit.
High Protein Pancakes
Ingredients:  1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal, 2 Tablespoons protein powder, 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 2 eggs, 1 dribble vanilla extract, 3 shakes ground cinnamon

Method:  In a blender, blend the oatmeal into flour, add protein powder and blend together.  Add two eggs and blend until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.  Add cottage cheese, vanilla and cinnamon.  Blend for a couple minutes.  It's important to combine the oatmeal and protein powder with the eggs first.  If you add the cottage cheese to the dry ingredients, you will end up with a mixture much like clay and you will be sorry.  Pour the mixture onto a hot, greased frying pan and enjoy these guiltless, delicious pancakes.

First Full Moon Of the Year

The next full moon I see will be from the other hemisphere.

There WAS An Owl

A few months ago I was reminiscing and thinking about what has drawn me to my interest in birds.  I was thinking back to when I was a kid.  My Grandparents lived next door to me.  They had a house, a barn, a detached garage, a working windmill, a huge raspberry patch, a large vegetable garden, an apple orchard,  a grape arbor, a cow, a horse, a series of dogs all named Shep, chickens, pigeons, an owl.  Then I thought, now wait a minute.  Is that right?Who has an owl?  Nobody has an owl.  Owls are wildlife.  How could a person keep an owl as a pet?  How would you keep an owl for a pet?  I asked my cousin who is just a few months older than I am.  She lived in St. Paul but would often visit our Grandparents.  She didn't remember any owl.  Maybe there wasn't an owl.  Maybe I got mixed up with the Harry Potter stories.  Today I saw an Uncle who was just a young lad when I was a kid.  I started out slowly, hesitant to actually ask about an owl. Do you remember the garage?  The windmill?  The grape arbor?  He nods yes to all these questions.  He remembers the pigeons too.  He and his brother had the pigeons.  An owl?  I ask in a soft voice.  My uncle tells me his brother had a pet owl,  a great horned owl, and he kept it in the pigeon cage as a pet.  Two aunts are at the table.  They remember the owl too.  One aunt tells me she has a picture of my owl owning uncle with the owl on his shoulder.  If I come to her house she will show me the picture.  Why he had the owl and what happened to the owl is still unknown.  I'll have to ask the Uncle who wasn't there today these questions.  I can hardly wait to see him now.  I try to picture my 7 year old self walking behind the grape arbor and beholding an great horned owl in a pigeon cage.  Now it's no wonder why I like birds so much.

Appreciation

Lunch breaks are busy at work.  Our schedules overlap and sometimes there is only a few minutes to talk.  Over the years I've developed lunch break relationships with many people.  We have short conversations; question and answer sessions.  How are the kids?  What is your Dad up to?  Is your brother doing any better?  Did you get to that Kohl's sale last weekend?  These casual lunch break relationships don't seem significant because we don't spend extended time together and don't socialize much outside of work.  The significance of a kind word or is huge on the right day as demonstrated to me by a coworker when she wrote this note to me:  "I sure appreciate your listening ear while we share our lunchtime-you are a kind person with a kind word when I need it.  We do have our share of laughs also.  Wanted you to know you make my day brighter and I appreciate you."  Wasn't that nice of her?  Dang, she is awesome. 

Hurry Down Sunshine

Michael Greenburg wrote Hurry Down Sunshine, the story of his daughter, Sally's episode of mental illness.  At age 15 a period of mania associated with a bipolar disorder, struck Sally hard and fast.  Sally thought she was a genius.   She thought everyone was a genius and living in society disables our genius and only she can bring it back.  She also thinks she has the power to stop traffic with her mind-a very dangerous thought for a 15 year old girl living in New York City.  Her father tells her story of desperately trying to connect with his psychotic daughter.  After she comes home from the hospital he even takes one of her doses of haldol, lithium, depakote and prolixin. He wants to know what she feels like with all her dopamine blocked. With all these meds in him he cannot even coordinate making a cup of coffee much less the business visitor who comes to call.  He can't hold a cup, he can't think clearly and he feels like he's padded in foam rubber.  His love for his daughter, Sally, comes through loud and clear.  At times sad, hilarious, poignant, it's basically an uplifting true story.

I Voted for Cake

Today at work we had our annual cake decorating contest.  I am not really sure how this got started but people have been bringing in cakes for a few years now.  I haven't participated except to vote.  I don't even eat the cake.  I'm trying to avoid those nasty sweet carbs.  This year we had only 4 entries.  One was a deviled egg cake.  The top looked like a deviled  egg of some giant bird; possibly from Sesame Street.  One was a Wild cake.  It looked like an ice rink.  I thought the hockey nets made out of Twizler candy was quite imaginative.  One was a construction cake.  It was made by one fellow's wife who has taken cake decorating classes.  This cake had green coconut grass, brown sugar earth,  bridge mix boulders plus some toy bulldozers.  The construction cake won the contest.  But the one I voted for was really "outside the box" and submitted by our property management staff.  Very pretty in pink and white, he submitted a urinal cake.

Taxes Are Done

Project Feederwatch Update

Hairy woodpecker-2, Downy woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-2, Pileated woodpecker-1, Black capped chickadee-5, White breasted Nuthatch-3, Goldfinch-6, Common Redpoll-11, Brown Creeper-2, American Crow-2, Dark Eyed Junco-4, Feral cat who was chased off the deck and told in no certain terms that it was not welcome-1

Being Watched

Saturday mornings is when I fill my bird feeders.  Because it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home from work, weekends are the only days when I can see my yard. Today as I was putting more suet in the suet holder I listened as two hairy woodpeckers spoke to each other.  I looked up.  One was in the oak tree and one was in the crabapple tree and both were watching me.  It's a little disturbing to be watched like that.

State of Wonder

I have  a friend who really gets into books.  When she reads her emotions overcome her.  She will laugh, yell, or cry aloud as she reads.  I'm not usually like that.  I might smile or roll my eyes or frown but I'm quiet about it.  But if you had seen me as I finished listening to this book on Highway 10 Thursday night you would have thought my best friend died.  I was "Boo Hooo'ing" aloud, tears running down my face.  Golly, what a glorious ending.  I can't remember the last book I read with such a fulfilling ending.  For the first half of the book, I really wasn't so sure I would like it.  The main character, Dr. Marina Singh is a pharmaceutical researcher for Vogel.  Vogel is a drug company based in Minneapolis and Marina studies the effects of statins on cholesterol levels.  She works with Dr. Anders Eckman.  Marina is single, in her early 40's, and is having an affair with the CEO of Vogel.  She is the kind of woman who gets talked into doing things she really doesn't want to do.  Ann Patchett, the author, makes it very clear that she's a pushover over and over and over again.  But once you get past that the story really takes off.  Most of the story takes place in a remote area of the Amazon watershed.  I never saw the ending coming.  Like finding a new vein of gold in a mine, I've found a new author to enjoy.  I plan to read all her books.

Tracking

We had some homework to complete before our most recent Master Naturalist meeting. We were to find a track and study it, write down our observations, sketch the track, and write 20 questions about it.  I found some tracks in my driveway Sunday afternoon and studied the heck out of them until my frozen fingers and toes drove me inside.  And I had 20 questions about the track.  Some were basic.  How heavy?  Was it a ring necked pheasant?  Has it been here before?  Why did it cross the driveway, and turn around before flying away?  Why was it alone?  Don't they usually travel in groups?  So I was ready when I got to my tracking class.  Our instructor is a Master Naturalist and a high school biology teacher.  His enthusiasm for tracking was contagious.  He encouraged us to encourage the deeper questions about tracking  If the deeper questions are asked, a track become more than a mark left by an animal; a track becomes a story.  He had some cool photos of tracks and cool stories that the tracks told.  His talk was inspiring.  Some photos of red fox tracks in the mud were so clear we could see the hairs behind the pads.  The next time I see some fresh mud I will be sure to stop and look at any stories that can be found there.

The Man Without A Face; The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin has been an intriguing figure for me.  I've seen pictures of him swimming down the river, piloting a flock of endangered birds in an ultralight plane, bring up precious (planted) vases from under the sea and riding horseback without a shirt.  His press releases are almost comically manly.  So I decided to read about him in a book Without a Face, The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen.  Was it dry you ask?  Dry as Melba toast but sometimes Melba toast is just what I like.  Putin was a bad boy.  His temper was uncontrollable and he had to be physically pulled off other boys in school.  He was a terrible student in part because of the fights and in part he didn't care about pleasing his instructors.  He was selfish and a poor communicator.  His wife was sure he was breaking up with her during all but the last sentence of his marriage proposal.  As a high school student he went to the KGB and said he would be interested in working for them.  He was told you don't apply for the KGB - they will come to you.  Eventually they did come to him.  How did this emotionally repressed man get to be the leader of Russia?  And  how does he keep the job for so long when he still has that uncontrollable temper?  Here is what he said when asked by a French reporter in 2002 about the use of heavy artillery against civilians in Chechnya:  "If you are ready to become a radical adherent of Islam and you are ready to be circumcised, I invite you to come to Moscow.  We are a country of many faiths.  We have specialists in this. I will recommend that the operation be performed in such a way that nothing will ever grow there again."  Say what!?  The interpreter could not, in decency, translate what he said in full.  The French press summarized his statement to "You are welcome and everything and everyone is tolerated in Russia."  After reading this book I no longer think of Putin as a comically manly figurehead.  Poisonings, bombings of civilian apartment buildings, killing of journalists on his birthday, tanks with guns pointed at the civilian hostages in a theater in Chechnya - no, now Putin is not so funny to me anymore.  Now he scares me.

Becky's New Car

I had a date Saturday night with some college roommates for dinner and a show.  After eating at Billy's we went to the Lyric Arts Theater to see "Becky's New Car."  I was expecting a modern comedy.  And it was a comedy but much more.  There was some tragedy, some mystery, and so many sudden plot twists it was enough to give me entertainment whiplash.  Wow, I never saw some of those things coming.  Great show.  You should see it.

Project Feederwatch Update

The brown creeper slinks around the deck railing gobbling up the tiny pieces of suet that the woodpeckers leave behind.

 

Pileated Woodpecker-1, Hairy Woodpecker-2, Downy Woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-1, Black capped chickadee-6, White breasted Nuthatch-3, Goldfinch-12, Common Redpolls-18, Brown Creeper-1, American Crow-1, Blue Jay-1, Dark Eyed Junco-4

Cold Love

I slept in this morning and the first thing I heard was a black capped chickadee singing "Fee-Bee!"  The chickadees are thinking about love already.  I see them fighting at the birdfeeder too trying to defend their territory which is another sign of love because normally the chickadee is a chipper and peace loving bird.  Hearing the chickadee this morning reminded me that January is the month I go and visit the Trumpeter Swans in Monticello.  So this morning I drove up there.  I spied a flock of common golden eye ducks diving together first.  I saw a half dozen swans fly by the highway and gracefully land in a field of unpicked corn.  When I got to Swan Park the first thing I noticed was the noise.  I forgot how loud Trumpeter Swans trumpet.  The second thing I noticed was the cold.  Brrr!  It was so cold I couldn't even look upriver because that was into the wind.  If it wasn't so cold I could have moved my camera to the snowman setting and gotten better shots.  All those whitish looking lumps you see out there are Trumpeter Swans.  Feeding time is 10:30 and I got there about 11.  Jim, the Swan Lady's husband, was out there on the river edge spreading corn for the swans, geese and ducks.  I watched as he emptied about 10 five gallon buckets of corn.  He looked colder than I was.  If you don't have the time or resources to drive up to Monticello, the chamber of commerce of offering a "Swan Cam" this year.  Here is the link:  http://monticellofiber.com/swancam.cfm .



Journey For Freedom: Defection from Communist Czechoslovakiea

A couple months ago I went to a training session.  I didn't pay much attention to the agenda for the day.  When I saw a tall blond man walk in with a western style suit coat (picture contrasting stitching), cowboy boots, and a patriotic tie, I thought "What the heck?  Who is this oddly dressed man?"  The man turned out to be Peter Vodenka, the author of the book Journey for Freedom; Defection from Communist Czechoslovakia.  Peter spoke to us about his childhood in a Communist country where he idolized the characters on American western television shows.  He spoke of a country where there are armed guards on the borders to keep you in, electrified razor wire fences to keep you in, public policy and roadblocks to keep you from leaving.  Peter spoke of the lack of freedom.  Unable to prosper, unable to make sure his kids got enough vitamins to grow up healthy, unable to travel, unable to believe the propaganda, unable to get his hands on goods other than the poorly made Communist items, unable to speak freely he and his wife chose to leave Czechoslovakia, via Austria, to the United States of America.  They left at night, abandoning their car, carrying two children and two shoulder bags.  Planning for years for this very night, they thought of everything except how the dome light could draw the attention of the guards when they opened the car doors.  They ran into the rain with armed guards and dogs chasing them.  All four made it safely into the woods of Austria.  They stayed in a refugee camp.  A church in Beach, North Dakota sponsored them to come to America.  Peter told us he is proud to be an American.  He is proud of the American flag. He is proud of America for helping people throughout the world who need our help.  I don't often hear that kind of blatant patriotism. His speech was good and the book was even better.  His story of a harrowing escape is emotional and compelling. 

Panic!

from bitsandpieces.us

Already Home

Susan Mallery wrote Already Home, a book with two main characters, Jenna and Violet. Although Jenna and Violet are interesting in their own right, this isn't the kind of book where I think about the characters inbetween reading sessions.  It just didn't grab me like other books do.  Sometimes when I got back to the book I would have to think, who is Jenna again?  Oh, right, the chef who quit her job, got divorced, moved home and impulsively opened a cooking supply store without have a clue.  And Violet?  Right, she was the younger woman with the dark past who saves Jenna's business with her retail skills and marketing savvy.  It wasn't a bad book, just like a hydrox isn't a bad cookie,  Oreos are better.

One Moment, One Morning

My book club read Sarah Rayner's One Moment, One Morning this month.  This book is the story about three women riding the same train from Brighton to London during the morning commute. Two of the women were friends but did not know each other was on the same train.  An incident happens on the train and changes all three lives.  The book goes through that day and the next four days in detail and the final chapter describes the three woman (now friends) getting together for a fun afternoon.  This book was a great story about female friendship.  Most of us liked the story very much.  The members of the group who didn't like the story were both widows.  The incident on the train was one of the main character's husband dies of a heart attack on the train.  For them the description of her grief didn't ring true; didn't go deep enough.  The author, Sarah Rayner, has not experienced the death of a spouse.  She is a young woman, living in Brighton, who previously wrote for a fashion magazine.  Her first two novels were in the "chick lit" category.  This is her first serious novel.  So if you're looking for a story about friendship, you might like this book.  I did.

I'd Choose Green

Think of the money I'd save on gas, auto maintainance, and insurance.

My Best!

Today I swam a mile in 60 minutes which is my personal best.  A mile usually takes me 65 to 70 minutes to complete.  Today was different.  Today I tried to focus on technique.  Usually I silently sing songs.  By the way, "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" is a good song for me to swim too.  The chorus has good timing for my strokes (bring back, bring back, oh bring back my bonnie to me, to me).  If I don't sing songs I play alphabetical word games.  Each quarter lap gets a letter except x, y, and z share.  One round of the alphabet equals six laps and six alphabets makes a mile.  I pick six topics and run each one through the alphabet.  So for one mile I'll run through an alphabet of animals (aardvark, antelope, anteater, beaver, badger, bear), plants (chrysanthemum, cactus, corn, daisy, dahlia, dandelion), birds (egret, Eastern Bluebird, finch, falcon, flamingo), plants (Gerber daisy, geranium, grass), fish (Haddock, halibut, herring), drinks (ice water, Irish coffee, Italian wine, juice, mint julep, jack daniels), subjects in school (kindergarten, keyboarding, kinesthesiology, language arts, Latin, literature), female names (Mary, Marion, Mabel, Nancy, Nora, Nikki), male names (Oscar, Olaf, Oliver, Peter, Paul, Parker) . . . well, you get the picture.  Thinking of foods makes me really hungry.  All this keeps my mind occupied as I trudge up and down the swimming lane following the dark blue line at the bottom of the pool.  But not today.  No songs.  No word games.  I focused on my stroke.  I really tried to use the muscles in my back and shoulders instead of my arms and I cut a good 5 or 10 minutes off my time; a personal best.

Project Feederwatch Update

Pine Siskin

Hairy woodpecker-2, Downy Woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-2, Crow-1, Goldfinch-3, Common Redpolls-15, Black capped chickadee-4, White breasted nuthatch-3, Dark eyed Junco-3, Pine siskin-2  This is the first time I've seen a pine siskin in my yard.  I had to make an extra stop at the Anoka Independent Feed Store for more thistle seed this weekend.  These daily flocks of redpolls are gobbling it up.  When the supply of birch catkins runs low in Canada the common redpolls will fly further south.  That could be what is happening this year.

Swamplandia

I like books about nature, biology, ecology and relationships.  Karen Russell put all that and more into Swamplandia.  This is her first novel.  The 13 year old character Ava Bigtree narrates part of the story and her 17 year old brother, Kiwi Bigtree narrates the rest.  Ava's older sister, Osceola, her mother Hilola, her father Chief Bigtree, and her grandfather, Sawtooth Bigtree are all in the story.  The Bigtree clan run a alligator theme park on an island in southwest Florida.  They wrestle alligators for the tourists.  The Bigtrees also have a museum, a gift shop, and a cafe for the customers who must take a ferry boat to get there.  Things fall apart when Hilola Bigtree, the main attraction, is out of the picture.  Ava, the youngest in the family, is left trying to keep the family together which is a big responsibility for a 13 year old girl.  When Kiwi talks he sounds like a pragmatic home schooled kid.  He mispronounces words and lacks social skills on the mainland of Florida where he goes to make a living.  When Ava talks she sounds at times extremely naive and at times mature beyond her years but always poetic.  This was a great story. I enjoyed every chapter.  If HBO does make it into a half hour television series, I would definitely watch it.

Kids

This week I was invited over to a friend's house for dinner.  She has seven children and a husband.  Seven children!  Her kids range from 21 inches to six feet five inches in height and from two weeks to 16 years in age.  I haven't been at a table full of kids like this since I was a kid myself.  I really enjoyed myself.  I didn't mind the chaos and the mess and the confusion. I surprised myself with my adeptness at eating spaghetti and clearing the table with an infant in my arms.  I didn't spill any food on her and I didn't bump her head on anything.  Now that I am older I can observe and really appreciate a meal like this.  I notice precious moments that I would otherwise miss.  For example, one little boy, age 6, had just come home from speech therapy.  He was listening to his younger sister, age 15 months talk.  As she ate her dinner, she held up each noodle and said, "Sketti," before she ate it.  He looked down at her seriously, totally imitating a speech therapist, and corrected her.  "It's BAH-sketti," he said.

Tighty Whities

Yesterday at work we had a heating problem.  Our conference room was at 60 degrees.  I brought a cup of tea to keep myself warm.  One person at the meeting started out comfortable but grew cold after about 20 minutes.  She told us she was cold and then drew a pair of "Handerpants" out of her purse and proceeded to put them on.  She said she got them for Christmas.  "Tighty whities for your hands?," I asked, "Handerwear?"  We all enjoyed her handerpants.  And then we got back to business and started discussing some heavy topics.  Every time this woman spoke she gestured with her hands and I had to suppress myself.  It wasn't easy.  I could not take a thing she said seriously while she wore those handerpants.  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud.  Even their website is funny.  Only $11.95 plus shipping.  Here is what handerpants can do for you:

 

Fits Most Hands

Breathable Cotton

Form Fitting

Prevents Chafing

Absorbs Sweat

Distracts Enemies

Non Toxic

Great For Jazz Hands

Orange

Happy New Year!