Paris

I read Paris by Edward Rutherford.  It was good but it was l.o.n.g.  Very long.  I listened to it on CD.  Most books are 8 or 10 cd's long.  A real long book has 12 cds.  This historical novel had 30.  Each one is about an hour so this book was 30 hours of listening.  Never once did I think about quitting though because the story was fascinating.  The author uses the family of various ranks in society to tell the story of the city.  Most of the story took place in the last 3 centuries.  I learned about the Eiffel Tower, the Inquisition, the French Revolution, Monet, Dega, Charles DeGaulle and the Nazi occupation.  I learned quite a bit about the city of Paris as well.  This book would be a good one to read before and/or after a trip to the city of Paris.  If only my history classes in school were this interesting! 

I Had Better Start Saving Money Now

The Perfect Day

We picked a perfect day to enjoy summer. On Tuesday three of us traveled to Taylor's Falls.  We boarded our watercraft.  I was in my kayak and the other two were in a canoe.  We almost had the entire St. Croix river to ourselves.  The temperature stayed in the 70's.  The sky was blue with feathery, wispy clouds.  The breeze, when it came by, was always at our backs.  Sometimes the water was so still the river was like a big, long mirror.  We stopped at admire the Indian pictographs. We found them right away this time.  But we didn't stop for lunch there as we usually do. We waited to eat at the Osceola landing instead.  We decided to go for the long trip today.  So we headed south towards William O'Brien state park.  We admired the osprey nest on the railroad bridge.  We saw great blue herons wading in the water.  A green heron flew branch to branch down river ahead of us.  Eagles soared overhead.  Pileated woodpeckers called from the woods.  A group of cedar waxwings hovered over the river catching bugs.  We saw a group of soft shell turtles warming themselves on logs.  I don't think the turtles would feel as free to warm themselves on a weekend day when the river traffic is much higher.  Paddling today was easy.  Before we knew it we had reached the northern boundary of the state park.  Already?  We had 2 hours until the bus would come to take us back to the car.  So we quit paddling.  We hugged the Minnesota shore to get out of the sun and just floated down close to the limestone walls.  Oh, it was so lovely.  Between the scenery, the wildlife, the birds, the company and the conversation it was a perfect day. This is the kind of day you want to bottle up and save so you can relive it again during the dreary month of February. 

The More I Think About It

The more I think about it the more upset I become.  What kind of kid kicks a bear?  That two year old tyke at the fair yesterday kicked me inside my Smokey the Bear costume.  He kicked me in my left shin and I felt it even though my skin was covered with thick brown fur and the denim of a pair of 52 inch waist jeans.  I'm a little protective of my shins since my shin injury last summer but this kid, well, I really wanted to kick him back.  He wasn't just kicking me, he was kicking Smokey the Bear, a national symbol; a symbol of our NATION.  Somebody better help this kid because he's isn't going to last long.  Natural selection will take care of him.  He ought to learn that you don't even poke a bear much less kick it in the shin.  GGGRRRRRrrrrrrr! 

Fun at the Fair

 We went to the Minnesota State Fair today.  We arrived early so we could take advantage of the cooler temperatures and thinner crowds.  Our first visit was to the pig barn to see the largest boar. The boar was very big.  We headed over to the Eco Experience and the U of M research building.  I had my cholesterol checked.  I was happy with 199 - totally within the normal range!  After a snack of corn on the cob we made our way over to the DNR building to complete our volunteer job as Smokey the Bear (and handler).  I had the first round of being Smokey.  I donned the big jeans and the big bear feet.  Next comes the vest with 8 ice packs in the pockets.  On top of that comes the big beary arms and torso.  Then the pants get attached to the torso and the belt is buckled.  Although it feels like the pants are falling down and the crotch is down around my knees the pants are sturdily attached.  We carefully walked down the stairs which is difficult because my size 15 feet are too long for the stair treads.  At the bottom of the stairs I don Smokey's head and hat and head out to greet my many fans.  Little people, big people, people of all ages love Smokey.  Much of my time is spent posing for photos and hugging.  My handler warns me who is coming so I can hold my hand out to shake, high five, or fist bump.  If no one approaches me I like to approach others.  I ham it up at the DNR information booth, leafing through the booklets as if a bear could read.  Wearing the Smokey costume gives me psychological freedom to behave differently. At the DNR fish pond many people have their back to me.  I go up to a couple older men and quietly put my paw on their shoulder and pretend to look at the fish.  One older man got so scared to see a hairy paw on his shoulder he almost spilled his bear into the fish pond.  LOL.  Funny as heck.  I got to hold a 3 month old.  One little boy came up to me to give me a hug.  After the hug he backed up, pulled his right foot back and kicked Smokey the bear in the shin!  I felt it through my jeans.  He kicked me in my good shin and not very hard. His mother was all over him; forced him to apologize. By the way she and he acted I was pretty sure this wasn't the first time he kicked someone.  In my head I had a discussion.  "Should I kick him back?"  "No, Smokey the bear should NOT kick a little kid.  Not funny."  "What if I only appeared to kick him back?  Just drew back my hairy foot but didn't make contact?  Wouldn't that be funny?"  "NO!  Under no circumstances would a kick or a faux kick from a national symbol for nature be funny inflicted on a 2 year old."  This whole conversation takes place in a split second and luckily a calmer head prevailed.  I totally enjoyed every minute even though a drop of sweat dangled from the end of my nose for at least 20 minutes.  My hour was up in no time and I took the costume off.  I wore quick drying fabric and soon I was dry again.  We had time to run half a block away and gets crepes for lunch.  Mine was mushroom and swiss - delicious.  Then we hurried back and I helped Offspring #2 get into the costume.  Zipping up the fly and buckling the buckle on another person's jeans is really awkward.  I handled Smokey for the second shift.  "High five on the right.  Fist bump on the left.  Small boy approaching for a hug." I like to watch the faces of the little kids in strollers as Smokey approaches. Their faces show delight and fear and total uncertainty about what to do.  I'm sure Smokey is on quite a few facebook pages today.  When the second shift was over we took off the costume and set it in front of the fans to dry.  We sprayed each piece with lysol so they will be fresh for Smokey to wear again tomorrow.  We relaxed and cooled down a little bit before heading out into the fair again which was way more crowded than it was in the morning.  We sat on the curb in the shade and enjoyed the people watching while we ate some ice cream.  We stopped to do a little window shopping on the way back to the bus that would take us back to the parking lot.  What a great day.  Definitely going to do it again next year.

Little House In The Big Woods

This is the second line of the book Little House In The Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder - "The great, dark trees of the Big Woods stood all around the house, and beyond them were other trees and beyond them were more trees."  I love that sentence and I love the feeling I get when I reread this classic tale.  Life was simpler in the big woods.  Laura didn't feel deprived even though she never got any pop, any Snickers bars, any trips to the fair, or any video games to play.    She was grateful for what she had which was health and the love of family and a house in the big woods.  Was she jealous of her sister's golden hair?  Did she feel frustrated by the limits set on children by the parents?  Of course.  Real girls have all kinds of feelings.  I might think of Laura next spring when I tap my maple trees with my portable electric drill, pound in my metal tap with a hammer, connect the plastic tubing to a milk jug which I will store in my electric refrigerator until the day I boil the sap in a metal pot on my electric stove.  Although easier, I won't have as much fun maple syruping as she did.

Here On Earth

I judged this book by the cover.  First I saw a dragonfly and then, in large letters, the name Alice Hoffman.  My hand reached for it immediately.  I love Alice Hoffman who wrote Dovekeepers, Practical Magic, and The Red Garden.  She is a magical writer and this book was no exception.  This book has a villain named Hollis.  At first you think that maybe he's misunderstood or that people are making false assumptions against him because he's from a poor family.  This is a story about how reckless and destructive love can be sometimes.  Good old Alice Hoffman.  She hasn't written a book I haven't liked.

Fossils

Last night I went to a chapter meeting of the Master Naturalists.  We had a speaker about fossils.  She explained why fossils are most often found in sedimentary rock and how most of the bone is replaced with the minerals in the water that ran through the sedimentary rock.  She was a good speaker because she was enthusiastic and funny.  I was in a mood and kept throwing comments out which she took in good stride. She gave us an idea to get kids excited about fossils.  At Thanksgiving she keeps all the turkey bones (and gathers the bones of other turkeys if she is going to do this for a classroom of kids).  She boils the bones and gets as much meat off them as possible.  After drying the bones she soaks them for 2-3 days in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide.  She dries the bones again and puts them in a flat container and pours plaster of paris over them.  The plaster coats the bones but their shape can still be seen.  After the plaster sits for about an hour she breaks the plaster with the bones apart into pieces that include at least one bone.  She then pours a layer of sand into many small containers that will be used by 2 or 3 kids.  She puts a plaster of paris covered bone on top of the sand and covers it up with more sand.  The kids go fossil hunting into their containers armed with old toothbrushes, old make up brushes, nails and straws.  The straws are used to blow the sand away.  The kids get really excited when they find a bone covered with plaster of paris.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  I wouldn't mind doing it myself.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I tried a new recipe today in order to use many of the vegetables I got in this week's CSA allotment.  Some things came to me that I didn't even know what they were.  I spent five minutes deciding which vegetable was the spaghetti squash and which was the ananas melon. I decided to cut them both open.  The squash was much more difficult to cut than the melon.  I baked the squash last night after splitting it in half and scooping the seeds out.  I baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  I rubbed a fork against the flesh of the squash to form the spaghetti like strands and refrigerated that overnight.  The other ingredients from my CSA allotment for this dish included a green bell pepper, an Anaheim pepper, an onion, and bronze fennel.  I have never seen bronze fennel before.  The stalks are about 18 inches long and the greens on it are like hairy green seaweed.  I don't know if I'm supposed to use the stems or not but there was a lot of it so I didn't use the stems.  The fennel gives a slight anise smell and taste. Oh, and by the way, the Ananas melon, although an off-putting off-white color inside and out, tasted deliciously of melon and pineapple.

Ingredients:  one spaghetti squash halved, cleaned of seeds, baked, and split into strands with a fork, one large onion diced, one bunch bronze fennel diced, one green bell pepper diced, one Anaheim pepper diced, one large clove of garlic diced, 2 TB olive oil, one box Morningstar veggie meatballs, one jar Prego spaghetti sauce, crushed red pepper to taste, 2 TB shredded cheddar cheese.

Preparation:  Saute onion, peppers, garlic and fennel in large pan with olive oil until onions are translucent.  Microwave veggie meatballs for 2 minutes.  Add sauce to vegetables and stir until sauce is warmed.  Add meatballs and spaghetti squash to the sauce.  Move the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serve on a plate.  Top with crushed red pepper and cheese. 

Coon Hollow

Every week or so I head down into Coon Hollow to monitor the water in Coon Creek.  When I think of a hollow I think of Snuffy Smith. I believe he lived in a hollow.  But this hollow is more like a Jed Clampett hollow than a Snuffy Smith hollow. All 8 houses on this tiny road bordering Coon Creek before it empties into the Mississippi are McMansions with fertilized lawns, manicured shrubs, cement driveways and expensive landscaping.  Two of the houses have identical odd lawn ornaments.  The ornaments are black plywood cutouts of German Shepard dogs and they rest on the ground on a thick black metal spring so they wiggle in the wind.  Now why would these McMansion homeowners keep fake dogs in their lawn?  What are they trying to scare away?  Cats?  Coyotes?  Raccoons?  After all it is coon hollow.  Geese maybe? Geese excrement would not look pretty on these green carpet lawns.  I'd like to ask but none of these people are outside tending to their gardens.  They hire people to do that.  In any case I come every week or so to monitor the creek. This week as I approached the pedestrian bridge over Coon Creek I noticed less of the water was visible.  I was seeing more branches and brush than usual.  At first glance I didn't like that.  I threw my bucket over the railing to collect my water sample.  As I pulled my bucket back up I noticed why less stream was visible.  Two saplings had tipped over because a beaver chewed the trunks down to a point sometime during the last week.  Aww, that is cool.  Also down there was a dozen or more yellow prairie cone flowers looking up at me.  Most of what I do to monitor the creek is measurable.  The temperature, stream depth and transparency are all measurable.  Another question though is recreational suitability which is more opinion than anything else.  This stream is always very nice.  I never see trash in it.  The flow is quite strong so the bottom is sandy and there is no algae  I've always rated the recreational suitability quite high. It's good but not the boundary waters.  The fact that the McMansion owners mow their manicured lawns right down to the edge of the stream has bothered me.  But when I see evidence of recent beaver activity I want to rate it higher than usual.  Is that subjective?  Yes it is.  But I'm the one who has been coming here almost every week for the past 3 summers so that gives me the right to rate it higher. 

Fire

Last night was warm, muggy and still.  "Light a fire," I thought, "It's a perfect night for it."  So I lit a fire to burn some of the big pile of branches I have laying around.  Using a single piece of charcoal and a handful of dryer lint that I have saved up, I lit a fire.  At first it was slow to light.  I gathered twigs to keep it going.  As I worked gathering twigs I realized I was sweating so much my tshirt was as wet as it gets at the gym.  So I sat a minute to rest.  A small fire was definitely going in the woodpile that was probably five feet in diameter and 4 feet high.  To the side lay a giant branch of dead black spruce.  I lopped branches off the spruce.  As I fed them to the fire the flames rose 16 feet into the air singing the leaves of the tree above the fire. Dead black spruce will keep a fire going.  Some of the logs in the fire were 10 feet long so I set them in the middle.  As the center burned and the two ends came apart, I took the cool ends of the log and put them in the fire.  Man, was it hot.  I fed the fire for over 3 hours.  Tending a fire doesn't seem like much work but it sure gets rid of a lot of brush.  A couple years ago I took a giant 8 foot tall stalk of burdock in full seed and burned it.  So now I had 5 giant stalks of burdock around my fire spot.  I lopped them off and put them into the flames.  That dang burdock.  I used to think it was wild rhubarb and didn't mind it so much.  I even cast some burdock leaves into cement.  Now I know that one year it may look like innocent wild rhubarb but the next year it will grow into a towering 8 foot tall evil shrub full of velcro like seeds that will stick to your clothes and your hair and your dog.  Plus now I know it's an invasive species so I want to get rid of the dang burdock.  When I had time to rest in my lawn chair, a toad hopped up on the lawn chair next to me and we both watched the fire and listened to the crickets, the barred owl, and the squirrels.  A train blew the whistle 5 miles away and sounded lovely.  Someone blew off fireworks once in a while.  Normally I'm not outside listening to the sounds of the night.  Something scurried behind me.  It had four legs, was low to the ground, dark fur, and was larger than a mouse.  I don't know what that was but it made me a little nervous.  By 9:30 p.m. the flames had died down and only glowing embers were left.  I was hot and tired and really, really dirty.  I was so dirty I was past uncomfortable and almost to feeling good to be that dirty.  A hot shower was calling my name.  I will plan my next chore of burning brush for a cooler evening.

Minnetonka

A casual question at the end of a work day led to an afternoon of fun.  "Want to ride around Lake Minnetonka tomorrow and visit Noerenburg Gardens?"  So today at noon we took off with directions taped to our gas tanks.  The directions were complicated but kept us off the busiest roads.  We traveled through Anoka, Champlin, Dayton, Maple Grove, Corcoran, Plymouth, Medina, Wayzata, Shorewood, Spring Park, Minnetonka Beach, Tonka Bay, Excelsior, Deephaven and back to Wayzata again on the way home.  We drove to the north shore of Lake Minnetonka, followed it west to the middle, cut through the middle of the lake, and headed east and north to circle the east half of the lake.  We did pretty well with the directions but we must have turned off too quickly because we never saw Noerenburg Gardens.  We were close though. The sky was cloudy and that meant cooler temperatures.  I really enjoyed the windy roads and all the shoreline.  My attention was drawn in many directions including trees, houses, boats, seagulls, cars and street signs.  I couldn't take it all in.  I was in the lead so I had to keep my mind on the directions.  My friend followed fairly closely and sometimes she shared the lane with me.  So I had to take the curves slower so that I didn't drift into her lane.  We forgot to check the mileage before we left but we guess we drove over 100 miles today.  For a time we followed a Camaro with Wisconsin plates that read "Ooh la la."   That summed up our ride today - it was Ooh la la! 

Migwe Feeling Better

Migwe acts like he's feeling better.  I don't see him sitting in the food dish anymore.  I hear him singing more often.  I've made an effort to get him outside more.  Even if I get home at 6 he can sit on the deck until 8 to get some fresh air, see the sky, feel the breeze, and sing to his friends.  Nature is a cure for many ailments.

24 Robbers

At work today a coworker asked for stickers with the words up, down, and ground.  That brought to my mind an old jump roping song.  I couldn't quite remember how it went.  That is no surprise.  There is a lot of things I can't quite remember.  I knew it had something to

do with 24 robbers came knocking at the door. This brings me back to my childhood, the innocent days before arthritis kicked in.  Here is how the old song went:

Not last night

Not last night, but the night before

24 Robbers came knocking at my door

As I ran out (Run out of the jump rope)

They ran in (Run back in the jump rope and start jumping again)

I asked them what they wanted and this is what they said:

Spanish dancer turn around (turn ½ turn each time you jump)

Spanish dancer touch the ground (touch ground once when you are jumping)

Spanish dancer give a high kick (kick in the air once)

Spanish dancer get out before you miss (get out of the jump rope)

 

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

For the third consecutive month my book club chose to read a mystery.  (Blaa - mysteries.  Just tell me the story without trying to confuse me please).  This month was The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King.  This book is one of a series about Sherlock Holmes.  This is when Holmes is older than all the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories.  A couple people in the book club have read all the Laurie King books about Sherlock and his new friend Mary.  These two book club members were throwing titles and character names around and it was impressive to listen to them. In this story Mary is 15 and is walking through a moor reading a book when she almost steps on Sherlock who is resting under a tree  This would be a good book for a teenaged girl because Mary is a strong female character.  She's so smart she's equal to Sherlock.  As their friendship advances Sherlock allows Mary to take the lead on solving some crimes. At the end of the story Mary is 19 and in some danger from hanging out with the great Sherlock Holmes. I read the book but didn't really enjoy it.  I read it because I'm in the book club.  Laurie King may be a successful writer but she's no Arthur Conan Doyle.  Everyone else in the club seemed to love it though.

The Painter

The main character in The Painter is Jim Stegner.  The way Peter Heller writes about Jim Stegner, he comes across as such a manly man that I can almost smell the leather, the tobacco and the sweat coming off the pages.  Jim has problems.  His daughter was killed and he didn't handle that well.  He handled it so poorly that he killed a man.  Now he is in trouble again because he stopped a man from beating a horse.  To handle his violent history, his grief, and his current problems he resorts to fly fishing and painting.  He doesn't solve problems very well.  His current problems from stopping a horse beating result in his paintings selling for more and more money.  This fortune and fame upset him.  Jim is a deep thinker but terrible problem solver.  This story is so interesting I ended up walking an extra 30 seconds on the stair stepper at the gym which is huge because usually I am watching the clock very closely.

Migwe's Visitors

That is Migwe, my canary, inside the cage.  On top of the cage is the male goldfinch.  Two guys shooting the breeze together.  In the background is a female goldfinch on the right edge of my star rug gathering little fibers for the nest.

She Will Be Missed

I went to a funeral today of a vibrant, amazing woman.  She was kind, welcoming and somewhat of a prankster.  I always enjoyed seeing her.  When I saw her last, about 10 days ago, I asked about the bandages on her legs.  She told me about a terrible burn she got sitting around a campfire.  She was making the whole story up.  Long strips of bandages are now used by some physicians to treat edema of the legs instead of support hose.  I know when I visited her she wasn't feeling her best yet she could still dish out the BS like usual.  At her funeral they told the story of when her granddaughter's new boyfriend came to visit.  When the granddaughter went into the bedroom to change clothes, he was asked by the Mom to hide in the bathroom closet and scare the granddaughter when she came in.  Little did he know he was being set up.  While he was in there this woman, the grandmother, went into the bathroom.  She slowly poured a cup of water into the toilet.  Then she ripped off some toilet paper and flushed.  The poor guy was in the closet wondering what to do. Just imagine being him. Was that enough torture for this young fellow? Oh, no!  After that she opened the shower curtain and turned on the shower.  And finally she held a towel to her body, opened the bathroom closet door and screamed.  That poor young fellow!  This woman was so full of impish mischief that we were all sad to see her go.  As we stood outside the doors of St. Augustine's Church, listening to the church bells ring, and smelling the delicious aroma of the Country Hearth bread factory next door, we watched the white hearse slowly pull away with tears in our eyes.  Tomorrow she will be buried near Ottertail Lake. She will be missed by many. 

This Song Has Been On My Mind Lately

Offspring #2 and I went on a Saturday drive.  Our destination is near Comfrey, Minnesota which is about a 3 hour drive.  We zigzagged south and west, south and west, and more south and more west.  We stopped for a picnic lunch beside a lake in Sleepy Eye and got to the Jeffers Petroglyphs historical site at five minutes after 1.  The tour started at 1 so we hurried out there.  It was a long walk from the parking lot, through the building, and out to the petroglyphs out on the prairie.  The prairie soil got shallower and shallower until a quartzite rocky outcropping appeared.  This quartzite is the same rock that extends from Pipestone to the hill in Northfield where St. Olaf is situated.  The size of this irregularly shaped outcropping was about 20x50 feet or so. Glaciers etched deep groves into it by pushing rocks across in a mostly north/south orientation. Rock carvings are hard to see on a cloudy day.  During sunny moments our guide used a 2x3 foot board to shade the carvings and held up a 4x12 inch mirror to reflect light onto the rock face and then we could see them easily.  The best time to come would be when the light is at a low angle in the early morning or evening.  The hours of the site are 10-5 so that doesn't usually work. Having a guide point out the figures makes it much easier. I think it is allowable to visit the site even when the building is closed. We saw carvings of hands, people, snakes, turtles, bison, spears, and atlatls.  Atlatl is such a strange word but it means a spear throwing stick. The atlatl stick has finger loops, a notch to hold the spear, and a rock counter weight.  You load the spear in the atlatl and throw the atlatl.  You keep a hold of the atlatl and the spears goes farther and faster than it would if you threw it without an atlatl.  Many tribes came to this spiritual place to make carvings.  Although we have Dakota tribes around here for the past 200 years, other tribes were here first.  As the European settlers moved in from the east, tribes kept moving farther west.  Some came here after a period of fasting to carve what they say in their visions.  So some carvings are abstract.  Some carvings showed families and children.  I saw some thunderbird carvings.  Some of these carvings must have taken a long time to complete; weeks maybe.  This rock is hard.  They carved with other quartzite rocks or possibly pieces of flint. Several of the oldest carvings are of a species of bison with a pronounced hump on their back that went extinct 7,000 years ago (5,000 years BC).  That means these carvings are at least 7,000 years old.  7,000 years ago is before the Egyptians made the pyramids and before Stonehenge.  That these carvings survived the wind, the weather, and the people is amazing to me. Some people still come here to pray or meditate.  Anyone can fill out an application to use the petroglyph site for personal spiritual purposes.  After the tour of the rocky outcropping we went back into the building to watch a video made for the television show, "Native American Watch."  I've seen this show on TPT before.  The video did a good job explaining everything and at the end one of the Native American speakers told us that if we go back far enough, we all come from an indigenous and nomadic people.  That is a new thought for me and it bent my mind a little.  My thoughts flashed back quickly.  What did my ancestor look like in 1900?  1800? 1700? 1600? 1500?  Etc.  I must have had ancestors that go all the way back.  I've never thought of it before but I had ancestors that go back 7,000 years!  With my mind properly bent and my curiosity sparked to learn more about petroglyphs I knew I had a good visit.  We drove north and east toward home.  Traveling through New Ulm I saw a sign from the Brown County Fair that mentioned free admission.  What the heck?  Free admission. Even though sprinkles were falling we found the fair grounds and parked the car.  Polka music brought us in.  We bought some fair food and visited the rides, the 4H exhibits and watch some "dog jumping high into a pool of water" trials.  I watched one dog jump 5 feet 6 inches to grab a training stick with it's teeth and splash into the pool.  Looked like the dogs and the people were having a good time.  After the fair we zigzagged north and east.  We saw several trees (maples?) that were a color combination of lemon and lime. One side of the tree would be lemon and the other side was lime.  These beautiful trees looking amazing but I worry they could be a sign of (hate to say it) fall.  The days of summer are too short the way it is.  I'm glad I spent this day having a good time instead of cleaning the house or watching televison.

New Approach Doesn't Work Like I Hoped

Eight days have passed since the last fox appearance and the formulation of my plan to try a different approach.  So this morning while I was lying in bed awake feeling grateful for waking up naturally instead of to an alarm, I heard in the chicken voices that a fox was near.  Yes, I can understand chicken talk now.  The fox wasn't beside the coop but the chickens could see it.  So I decided to deploy my new approach.  No more yelling out the window. Instead I silently got up, grabbed the slingshot, put five BB's in my hand and approached the deck door.  I could tell by the chicken talk that the fox had withdrawn some.  I looked and the fox was looking at me!  It had already withdrawn to the edge of the yard.  I had my hand on the deck door and watched as the fox stopped looking at me, went down my mown path toward the side road and cut through the thick poison ivy into my neighbor's yard.  How did the fox know my new plan?  Can it read my mind or does it read my blog?  The wily fox!?!

Eating More Vegetables

I am handing all the vegetables that I get from my CSA (consumer supported agriculture) allotment better than I thought I would.  Nothing has really gone to waste.  And I am eating more vegetables than I thought I could.  Kale, for instance.  I've gotten kale almost every week.  And not just a little kale, I've gotten 15-20 leaves of kale.  That is a considerable bulk of fibrous green leaves.  I haven't given any kale away.  Despite it's considerable bulk, kale cooks down and tastes delicious in red sauces and stir fry dishes.  This coming week I won't be getting any kale and I think I'll miss it.  I never knew I liked kale this much. I even ate it raw in a salad.  I cut it up into small bits and served it with plenty of dressing.  The kale salad was very chewy but good.  Green beans, on the other hand, are another story. I've gotten 3 cups of green beans and 3 cups of wax beans every week for the past month.  One week I can handle.  Two weeks I can handle.  But three weeks of that many beans is more than I can take.  I gave last week's beans to a bean loving friend of mine.  Now this week I'll look forward to seeing them again.  I like beans eaten raw, in stir fry dishes, and roasted in the oven.  Last week I got cherry tomatoes.  I LOVE tomatoes so those went down like candy.  I've gotten potatoes most weeks, either red potatoes or yukon gold potatoes and one week I got both.  I've eaten all the potatoes.  I get 3 or 4 cucumbers each week and those go directly to my chickens who love them cut in long quarters.  I also get fresh onions and I've eaten all of those so far.  I love onions.  I've eaten or used all the zucchini and most of the summer squash.  One vegetable I haven't been able to eat is the corn on the cob.  For the second week in a row I've been given six ears.  But what I can't eat I freeze.  That corn will taste good in the winter.  This coming week I look forward to more potatoes, green and wax beans, sweet peppers, onions, squash, corn, tomatoes and cucumbers.  So far I'm glad I joined this CSA. 

Success!

Today I decided to ditch my healthy exercise routine of swimming a mile and go birdwatching instead.  Best of all I rode the motorcycle.  My jacket and vest are loose enough to wear my binoculars underneath.  I left from work and headed east on 109th.  Where 109th meets 35W it bends north and turns into Sunshine Street. I took that north to Hwy. 14 and headed east to Hugo. Traffic wasn't too bad.  A rock flew up and hit me in the face shield of my helmet.  Wow, it cracked hard and loud only an inch from my eyeball.  I think it had the potential to crack a windshield.  This is why I wear a helmet with a face guard. The bike was running a little rough.  At the intersection of Hwy. 14 and Lake Drive it died just as the light turned green.  Crap!  This bike has a small gas tank and sometimes I need to turn it to reserve when there is a full gallon left in there.  I pulled over and turned the gas lever to reserve and started up again.  I bought gas in Centerville.  In Hugo I went north and turned east on Washington County Road 4.  At Manning Trail North I turned north.  I stopped at the first pond I saw and searched for the stork.  I turned off the bike and unzipped my coat.  I removed my gloves and sunglasses and held the binoculars up to my eyes.  I scanned the pond and the dead trees around it.  I didn't see any birds there.  I moved north to the Big Marine Park Reserve. I thought if they had a park office I could ask about the stork.  Washington County expects you to pay to use their parks so I didn't bother going in.  I headed south on Manning Trail North and checked out all the spots where egrets or wood storks might hang out.  I glanced at all the ponds and in the trees as best I could at 55 mph.  If the traffic was lighter I could have gone slower. I drove south all the way to some railroad tracks.  No sign of the stork or any egrets.  I know it takes time to see these rare birds.  I had to look for 20 or more minutes to see the ibis this spring.  I decided to give the area north of County Road 4 one more try.  I went by the first pond again.  Nothing there.  I kept going. On my left I saw a shallow pond in a cattle lot.  The water was green and the area around it was nasty and full of cow prints and cow pies.  Wait now, did I see a bird in there?  I turned around and came back so I was on the side of the road nearest the pond.  I parked.  Yes, there were some Canadian geese in the green pond, about 20 in all.  At the near shore was a killdeer.  As long as I was here I might as well scan closely with the binoculars.  Wow - what is that bird over on the left standing perfectly still?  It wasn't a great blue heron.  And although this bird was heron shaped it didn't have the posture of a heron.  This bird looks dark but it's hard to see looking into the sun like I was.  And it hasn't moved at all.  Not a single feather has moved.  I keep looking until my eyes go buggy and then I look some more.  This bird does not move!  Has some farmer made a cardboard cutout of a stork and is he or she looking out the kitchen window and laughing at me?  This bird still doesn't move.  It's tail is in the green scummy water. You would think the bird would look up or down or left or right even if it doesn't move it's body.  I put the binoculars down and move the bike up ten feet to be closer.  I look again.  This bird hasn't moved.  It has a long beak though - longer than a heron beak.  Could it be the wood stork?  Aren't they supposed to be lighter in color? I kept watching with the binoculars because I wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a cardboard cut out.  Gradually I noticed that the tail moved upwards and out of the green water.  This WASN'T a cardboard cut out.  It was a real bird.  Could it be a green heron?  No, it was too tall and it's beak was too long.  I've never seen this bird before.  The color seemed too dark for a stork.  But the shape, the long beak, and the fact that it was unusual and in the exact cattle pond mentioned by other bird watchers makes me think it might be a wood stork.  I decide to look it up when I get home.  I open my copy of Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America.  The book says "A lethargic resident of swamps where it feeds in the open where it is conspicuous.  That description plus the picture seals the deal.  I saw a wood stork.  It takes me an hour to get home making this bike ride 2.5 hours long.  This was much more fun than swimming a mile and totally worth it.  Wood storks don't normally come to Minnesota.  I'm glad I got a chance to see one. 

Wood Stork

This week on the bird lovers listserve I've read about a wood stork hanging out since late last week.  I've never seen a stork before. I would very much like to see a stork.  So I looked up on a map where the stork is hanging out with some egret friends.  This wood stork chose to hang out on one of my favorite roads to motorcycle down, namely county road 4 north and east of Hugo headed east toward Marine on the St. Croix.  The stork is on county road 4 and Manning Trail North.  What are the chances?  So tomorrow, after work, should I go to the gym and work out like usual or take the bike down one of my favorite roads and possibly see a stork for the very first time in my life?  I think this might be worth skipping the gym.  No doubt people will post tomorrow if the stork is still there.

Time To Change My Approach

Now is the time to change my approach to these early morning fox visits to the chicken coop.  I realize this after the fourth visit in four days.  I noticed this morning that this fox is skinny.  Seriously skinny.  Skinny like a long red pencil with four legs.  I think it's starving.  In a way that is good because maybe the fox will move on to another neighborhood with more rabbits and mice and food to eat.  In any case, now is the time for me to change tactics.  When the fox comes to bother my chickens I need to remain calm and quiet.  No more yelling out of the window, stomping on the deck and shaking my fist no matter how much my girls are panicking.  Instead I should quietly walk to the deck, gather my slingshot and ammo, aim and fire.  I hope I don't strike a chicken.  I can be adaptable when the situation calls for it.  I'm pretty sure I'll have a chance to try my new approach around 5:30 tomorrow morning.  .

Finally Found The Petroglyphs on the St. Croix River

After years of searching I finally found the Indian petroglyphs on the St. Croix River.  They're not easy to see.  I thought I saw a horse shape in the rock but that just turned out to be natural cracks in the rock.  I know this because as we were pausing there to admire the cliff I saw four other women in kayaks pointing at the cliff so I hurried over there. One woman was pointing out the petroglyphs.  I couldn't see them at first. I got a little frantic.  She heard it in my voice and reassured me I would find them.  I was looking for etching in the rock but they're actually maroon colored paintings on the rock.  And they're small.  We saw two hand shapes which were about the size of actual hands.  Above that was the crude image of a buffalo head with horns. A larger image to the left looks to some people like a horse head but I couldn't really see that. I was so happy to finally find them!  Plus we had a big group of almost a dozen family members enjoying a beautiful day on the St. Croix river.  By the way, the petroglyphs are on the Minnesota side of the river between Taylor's Falls and the Osceola landing.

She Said, "I do."

She said, "I do." at the ceremony at Arcola Mills Historic site on the scenic St. Croix River, a perfect spot for two outdoorsy people.  Dress was informal.  Two boys in tuxedo tshirts carried the rings.

A string quartet, a ukelele, and some kind of bagpipes provided the beautiful music.

After the ceremony those who wanted to followed the wedding party on a five minute nature walk along the river.

Simple gold bands signify love and commitment.

Rain forced us inside but that was okay.  After a wonderful dinner catered by Sawatdee we had a barn dance.  Pig's Eye Landing provided the music and a woman in cowboy boots told us when to promenade.  I did both the chicken dance and the bunny hop.

As we left in the evening luminaries lighted the path to the cars. A nice touch.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Portrait of a Lady

I read Portrait of a Lady  by Henry James.  This is a classic novel from 1860's and the book that led to James' fame as a novelist.  I recently saw a play from this same era (The Heiress) and both have the same plot - women with money unable to see through their beaus to the money grabbing, manipulative monsters behind them.  I thought this novel was really long but once I learned that it was written in a series for a magazine the length makes sense.  In this book the lady is named Isabel Archer.  She grows up in upstate New York and travels to Europe with a wealthy aunt that she had only met.  She has proposals coming at her fast and furious even before she inherits a small fortune.  She doesn't want to be tied down and forced to fulfill the constrained role of a wife.  Her quest for freedom leads her to push aside 3 kind men and into the arms of a conceited jerk in Italy.  This was a good story but now I am ready for a stronger, more successful female role in a novel.

Where Things Come Back

I judged this book by it's cover and this cover had some round shiny awards on it so I picked it up.  I think I might have accidentally been in the young adult section of fiction at my library.  In any case I enjoyed this story by John Corey Whaley.  He writes about Cullen's summer before his senior year of high school.  His story about his cousin, an ornithological hoax, and the disappearance of his brother weaves with another story.  The other story is about a young missionary's failure in Africa.  The story is poignant and captivating.  I could almost remember what it was like to be a  high school teen in the summertime.  I understand part of the plot is based on true history about the most recent sighting of the ivory billed woodpecker.  I can see why this story won awards.  I liked it very much.

Hate When That Happens

Today at 10 o'clock the IT tech came to my office to replace my computer tower.  After 3 full days of working without a computer and without access to email he came to my rescue.  I had my back to him.  When I turned around I said, "Oh, hello!" three times louder than I intended.  Subtle I'm not.  I hate when that happens.  After two hours I finally got to my email on another computer with information he easily could have given me over the phone on Tuesday.  I was so happy to read the 90 new emails I almost cried.