Some Things Are Funnier 20 Years In The Future

I met a friend for lunch today at a restaurant I had never been to before called P.F. Changs.  When I arrive she is there waiting for me.  I slide in next to her in the booth to give her a hug and she is laughing.  She is not only laughing but she is laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes.  So this is a little confusing.  I give her a hug and she whispers in my ear, "Take a look at the guy on your left."  I casually glance left.  Seated with his back to us is an elderly man with a pinkish bald head and a green shirt.  There is nothing unusual about him at all.  So I glance around at the other customers before returning to him.  My eyes take in his complete figure.  He is seated in a chair with his back to us.  As with many typical restaurant chairs there is a gap between the seat of his chair and the back of his chair.  OMG.  This guy's waistband of his pants must be down around his thighs because from this angle all I see is creamy white skin, a crack, and, I kid you not, cellulite. Ai yi yi!  How can he not feel the breeze?  Is he oblivious to his exposure or is he deliberately taunting all the customers and workers at PF Changs?  We debate. I vote perverted. She is nicer than I am and votes disabled. We consider moving to another part of the restaurant but all the other tables are taken. I can't stand it and deliberately keep my eyes pointing in the same direction away from the exposure of flesh.  When he gets up to leave the motion attracts her eye and she groans.  Things got worse before they got better.  After he left I felt free to look around at the PF Chang decor which is actually pretty nice.  And we had a delicious lunch and enjoyed catching up with our lives.  PS I highly recommend the vegetarian lettuce wraps at PF Changs - just the perfect amount of cellophane noodles, seasoned tofu and spicy sauce with lettuce leaves on the side to use as bread.  This is a lunch we will probably remember fondly 20 years from now. 

Last Day of February

This morning when I went out to take care of my chickens it was cold out.  I got an ice cream headache from the cold.  And I didn't get any ice cream making it a double injustice.  The chickens know what to expect. I start out by putting a long quarter of cucumber into the coop.  They take a bite or two but the entire thing will be gone soon. When I pull back the tarp that keeps their run free of snow they come out of the coop.  They watch me carefully as I lift the rubber water dish out of the run and slam it repeatedly against the picnic table to knock the ice out of the dish.  Under my picnic table there are a dozen or more round solid chunks of ice from previous water dish changes.  I put their water dish back down and pour fresh, liquid water into the bowl.  My chickens know they have to take advantage of the water while it is still liquid.  This is when the chickens get excited.  Ever since a trip to the Anoka Independent Feed Mill in late December where I bought a $20 bucket of dried mealworms and crickets, my chickens have been getting a treat with their fresh water in the morning.  They know it is coming and their behavior becomes worried and agitated in anticipation of their treat.  Winter is getting long for the chickens and for me.  I don't think we've broken the back of winter yet.  But I did hear a song of spring today.  I heard the cardinals singing their love song.  The cardinals are singing longer and louder.  I imagine that in human English the lyrics to their song would be like Marvin Gaye's "Lets Get It On."

 

Correction - Bright Orange is My Favorite Color

Tuatara

When I emptied my mailbox today, mixed in with the ads, the credit card offers, and the other junk mail was a postcard from New Zealand!  This is my first postcard from New Zealand ever.  On the front is some reptile called a tuatara.  I've never heard of a tuatara before.  If even a postcard from New Zealand can be informative, just think of all the cool things I could learn if I went there.  On the back of the postcard it says that the tuatara grows very slowly reaching sexual maturity at 20 years of age.  In any case I felt honored to get a handwritten note in the mailbox.  I should send more notes out myself.

My New Favorite Snack

This is not much of a recipe but my new favorite snack is white cheddar cheese curds from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery.  You can buy a bag of these delicious curds at your local grocery store.  I was buying them once in a while.  This past holiday season Offspring #1 was home and read the words on the bag that suggested putting the curds on a plate and microwaving them for 20 seconds.  These cheese curds are good cold; salty and creamy.  Warmed up in the microwave they are make-you-drool delicious.  I have experimented with the time and my preference is for 30 seconds in the microwave.  These curds are so good - greasy, salty, creamy and gooey.  Since New Years I have kept some on hand nearly all the time because they seem like a guilt free snack.

L O N G Day

Yesterday was my first full day of work since December 19 and it was a l.o.n.g. day.  Really long.  Eight and a half hours has never been so long.  But I made it all day.  I wasn't too tired physically but exhausted mentally I guess.  I went straight home to take a hot shower and sit on the couch.  Today was much better and the day wasn't half as long as Monday even though I worked the same hours.  I guess I have to face the fact that I still like working.  I am not ready to retire.  I like the schedule.  I like seeing a bunch of people and socializing.  I like having a big difference between the week days and the week ends.  I like the feeling of responsibility and accomplishment I get when I get a big stack of paper work completed.  I enjoy getting things organized and scheduled.  I like preparing for meetings.  I like going to meetings.  I like it when people ask my opinion.  I like being involved. I really like it when the clock turns to 4 o'clock and I can shut off my computer, put on my coat and go home.  This is a good thing to know because I've only got 4 to 5 more years to work so I may as well enjoy it while I can.

Appalled

The first time I heard about this issue was 1977 and the wage discrepancy was women made 59 cents for every dollar a man made.  Now, 38 years later, the difference is 78 cents for every dollar a man makes.  I've worked every year since 1969 and I am appalled that this continues.

A Song That Has Been In My Head For Days

Invasive Blitz

Today a friend and I went to a class called "Invasive Blitz" at the Carlos Avery Natural Wildlife Area.  We learned about invasive plants and insects.  And it wasn't boring at all.  Our class was inside all morning but we were given small clickers.  When a question was posed on the power point slide we would answer with our clickers pointed at the computer.  The computer added up our answers and gave the results in a graph.  In this way, if you were the only person to get an answer wrong in the class you would know it but no one else would - not that it ever happened to me (truth - 3 times).  I loved my clicker and had fun adding my votes to the total. I wish we had things like this when I was in school.

They fed us a ton of great food and I ate too much.  After lunch we went outside for an hour to walk around and look for invasive species. We found buckthorn and honeysuckle.  I got distracted by animal tracks.  Some little mammal was here hopping and dragging it's little tail.  I even found the hole where it came out and the hole where it went back in.

The weather was cold but there was no wind and the sun felt warm so it wasn't too bad out there.  The snow on the trail gave my feet good traction.

Another small mammal made the track on the left while a tunneling animal made the track on the right.

The landscape is pretty out here but frankly I'd prefer July.

or August.  I learned a lot today, met some new people with similar interests and even got a gold pin that I will put in a drawer with all my other nature pins.

Great Classic Stories

Do you like dark stories?  Do you like to read about murder, crime, insanity and mayhem?  If you do then Great Classic Stories is the book for you.  I listened to these short stories on CD and that is the way to enjoy this book.  Various voice actors read each story.  This book includes "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe.  I loved that story the most because the reader was so talented.  The hysteria and excitement rose so slowly in his voice that I didn't notice at first. By the end the guy is just screaming in a fever pitch which was incredibly entertaining.  I can't read feel good novels all the time and this was a welcome break.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for a little bit of the dark side.

Frangipani Hotel

I read The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith last week in Padre Island.  I thought it would be a good book to read while staying in a hotel.  And I was right.  This book was a great collection of short stories.  One of the short stories was about the Frangipani Hotel and I'm glad I didn't stay there because it was haunted. All of these stories have two things in common: Vietnam and magic.  Magic isn't so unusual. After all we have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.  Vietnamese magic is different and incredibly interesting.  This is one of those books that takes you away to another place, another culture, and another reality.

Two Old Women

One of my master naturalist friends recommended this book to me.  Velma Wallis wrote Two Old Women, a story about survival near the arctic circle.  The book is short and I finished it in one 2 hour sitting.  Life is tough for the two women.  One of them is 75 years old and she is the younger one of the two.  The nomadic tribe they belong to decided that these two women are more of a burden to the starving tribe so they are left behind.  Rather than die the two women decide to try to survive.  Not only do they manage to survive but they actually thrive and have set a store of dried fish aside before the next winter.  Their tribe, still struggling to survive, decide to go back and find the women and welcome them back.  The two women are wary, as one would be after being dumped and ostracized as they were.  The two old women end up saving the tribe with their success.  This is a good story but I would recommend you read it in August; not a cold week in February.

Think Back

Think back, way back.  Back farther than that. Think back to when the Polish pope visited the United States and a Minnesotan was the vice president of the United States.  I was young and had the world by the tail only I didn't know that at the time.  My uncle called me one day and asked for a favor.  His son, my cousin, was struggling in 9th grade algebra.  My uncle asked me to tutor him.  Instantly I pictured the head and shoulders of my high school algebra teacher and he was shaking his head side to side in disapproval.  Algebra wasn't my favorite subject.  In fact, algebra was one of my worst subjects in high school.  I told my uncle the truth.  I didn't feel qualified to tutor anyone in algebra.  My uncle said that wouldn't matter.  All his son needed was some confidence, some attention, and some guidance.  Again I emphasized my lack of algebra knowledge.  He insisted I was the one who could help his son.  And I, being the people pleasing person I was, and secretly a little honored to be asked to help a family member, agreed to try to help.  We bartered.  My uncle had my Grandfather's most awesome rototiller.  I had watched this rototiller many times.  This yellow behemoth of a tiller had the front of a small tractor and many, many tines in the back. This rototiller had so much power I had seen my Grandfather and my uncle struggle to keep up with it.  I was living in a little house on the edge of a swamp in Columbia Heights.  A small garden at the bottom of the hill would be so nice.  My uncle rototilled a garden for me.  He churned up the grass and the soil was black and rich.  Located next to a wetland made for fertile soil.  My vegetables grew lush and robust.  My cousin came over to my house with his algebra books.  While my uncle rototilled I looked at my cousin's algebra book with him.  He went through the first problem and showed me how to do it.  I paid attention and understood what he was saying. Maybe I asked a question or two. We did the second problem.  Again, he explained it to me and I understood.  Hence we set up the pattern of the tutoring sessions.  After the fourth half hour session of my cousin showing me how to do his algebra it was decided that my tutoring had saved the day.  My cousin  no longer needed my services.  I couldn't argue with that.  I think what most likely happened is that he decided he had buckle down and try to do his algebra in order to avoid any more tutoring from me.  In any case it was win/win for me.  I got a garden rototilled, I learned more about algebra, and I felt closer to my uncle and my cousin.  My uncle passed away this week.  I hope he died a peaceful death.  I wonder if he still has that rototiller.  He was a very nice man and if I had to describe him in one word it would be "integrity."  And although I wasn't so sure about tutoring algebra then, I sure am glad I did it now. 

Overwhelmed

Today I went back to work for the first time in 8 weeks.  I wasn't overly excited about setting the alarm clock and dragging that tired orange lunchbox out of the closet.  I haven't really missed work, per se, but I have missed the people.  Today I got back to work and truthfully I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome I received.  I got a genuine warm welcome back.  It was really nice, smiles and hugs.  I missed my coworkers and they missed me.  At the staff meeting I even got applause and cheers.  Wow.  If I had known how great today would be I would have, looked forward to my return more than I did.  This display of appreciation feels really good.

Beach Comparison

I was extremely lucky to have two winter barrier island vacations this year; December and February.  Both vacations were on the Gulf of Mexico.  If you think of the US coastline on the Gulf as a giant frowning mouth, my vacations were at opposite ends of that frown.  The beaches of Sanibel and the beaches of Padre Island are both stunningly beautiful.  Sanibel has sand that is whiter in color and has larger sized grains. Padre Island sand is darker and finer in texture.  In Sanibel I could just wipe my feet on a rug and all the sand would be gone. On Padre Island, wiping my feet wasn't enough to get rid of all the sand.  Even rinsing my feet in the shower didn't get all the sand off.  In fact, I had to rub my feet with a towel to get all the sand off.  I would guess that the housing prices on Padre are cheaper than Sanibel but I didn't really research that thoroughly.  Meal prices were about the same.  Sanibel was more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.  In Sanibel if you walked to an intersection, the cars would yield to you.  On Padre Island I knew I couldn't make it across the entire street so I aimed for a break in the traffic to make it to the middle before looking at the traffic coming from the other way.  No cars ever stopped or even slowed down for me. But Padre Island had free public transportation.  Free.  Free like in no cost.  The free transportation was a 30 passenger little bus that went by every 20-30 minutes.  It was called the Wave. I could stand at any corner.  If I saw the Wave coming and wanted a ride, I would wave at the Wave and the Wave would pull over and pick me up.  Similar birds and wildlife frequented both islands.  Both had palm trees and tropical flowers.  Both islands have nature preserves.  I believe manatees are rare in Texas and more common in Florida.  Sanibel Island had a crazy amount of shells compared to the few I saw on Padre. I thought the people on Padre Island were friendlier than on Sanibel but that may have been because I was with a group on Sanibel and alone on Padre.  Maybe people greet single women more than they do groups.  I think Sanibel seems classier than Padre Island but I loved them both and plan to spend at least one entire winter somewhere along the Gulf of Mexico. 

Puddles On The Beach

Walking on the beach makes me a little philosophical.  Sometimes, when I take a step, my weight displaces the water not just below my feet but in a circle around each foot. I can tell because the sand gets shiny as I step.  This makes me think that my actions have consequences that I do not always know about or notice.  Sometimes the waves throw some water up on the sand forming a puddle that does not immediately wash back into the sea.  A little rivulet forms at the lowest point of the puddle and right before my eyes the puddle grows smaller at every aspect of it's boundary.  The puddle dries up right before my eyes.  This, I think, is similar to problems.  If you wait long enough problems such as bronchitis or an unwanted emotion like disappointment or frustration will dry up and evaporate given enough time.  I like this idea.  I can think back to the puddle on the beach the next time I have a problem.  If I can visualize a problem drying up like a puddle I won't suffer as much.  Cheered by this exciting idea I go on to look at the next puddle.  This one is a big one.  A rivulet forms on one side.  Another wave comes up and adds to the puddle making it bigger.  Okay, I think, some problems are like that.  They grow bigger before they are resolved.  The extra water washes the sand out of the discharge rivulet so the water can drain faster.  Sometimes what you think is a problem is actually a part of the solution. The extra water temporarily makes the puddle bigger but will result in it draining even faster.  One door closes and another door opens.  As I stand there pondering this puddle and the action of the waves for another five minutes I realize the puddle never drains completely.  So what does that mean?  Some problems never go away?  How helpful will this analogy be if the puddle never empties?  Eventually the tide will rise and the puddle will be absorbed back into the gulf.  Some puddles drain fast and others take all night.  Eventually all problems are altered by the tides of time

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Someday I Will Live By the Ocean

Every morning and every night on Padre Island I walk the beach.  This is  the north beach.  If I walk the north beach in the morning I walk the south beach in the evening.  I walk it barefooted of course.  The sky is overcast and the wind is brisk..

This is the south beach.  The turtle rescue group patrols the entire south island every morning searching for turtles leaving tire tracks in the sand.  The sand farthest from shore is soft and deep.  Next comes a short band of crusty sand that is soft underneath.  Then a band of  harder sand that is still dry.  Then the layer of  hard wet sand between high tide and low tide.  I love to walk in all the kinds of sand.  I see people walking down Gulf  Drive getting their exercise and I wonder why they prefer to walk on asphalt between the traffic and the condo driveways..

Straight out view.  A laughing gull in the foreground.  An angler farther out.  It's time to say goodbye to the beach and return to normal life of work, responsibility, alarm clocks, packing lunch, buying gasoline, and shoveling snow..  How lucky I am to have had this break!

Birds, Birds, Birds

I'm not the only one who goes for a morning and evening walk on the beach.  Walking in the sand is good for my feet.  The sand softens the skin and walking in it without shoes gives my feet the full range of motion and burns more calories than walking with shoes on a hard surface.

The path to the beach has a long, blue plastic rug that keeps the sand in place.  Plants like sea oats and cactus grow on the dunes on the way to the beach.

The Sea Turtle Institute is right next to the birding center so I walked over there to see the rescued turtles including this beautiful 3 legged one with a beautiful shell.

At the birding center this tri colored heron posed for a photo shoot in the sun.

All of the American wigeon had white head stripes.  Some had a brilliant green head color in preparation for breeding and others were still dull.  I thought they were two different species of ducks.

I went on a guided bird walk today.  This is a showy egret.  Earlier, before the tour, I was so pleased with myself.  I found a long billed curlew all by myself and I identified it correctly.  Another lifer for me.  The long billed curlew has a long bill.  How long is the bill?  The bill is ridiculously long. Cray Cray long.  It's a Pinocchio bird.  If I had a lens as long as the bill of the curlew I could have taken a picture to show you just how long it is.  Google it.

This little blue heron is admiring it's shadow.

This is a pied billed grebe.

I think the great blue heron is one of the most magnificently beautiful birds ever.

Here is a list of all the beautiful birds I've seen here on Padre Island (a place where I can envision spending a winter some time in the future):  great tailed grackle, long billed curlew, laughing gull, ring billed gull, brown pelican, red winged blackbirds, roseate spoonbill, mottled duck, American wigeon, American coot, gallinule, pintail duck, osprey, double crested cormorant, rock pigeon, Eurasian collored dove, Caspian tern, Royal tern, great blue heron, little blue heron, snowy egret, reddigh heron, tri colored heron, great egret, white winged dove, redhead duck, white ibis, red breasted merganser, albino egret, black skimmer, sand piper, black crowned night heron, blue winged teal, and greater yellow legs.

I Could Get Used To this Island Living

I got up early enough to see dew drops on the beach grass.

Looks like a snake den.  Sounds dangerous.

I took the public transportation to the Bilding Enter (seriously the Birding Center).  I climbed to the top of that tower.

from where I got a good look at the sewage treatment center

and the nature boardwalk

and the causeway to Port Isobel.  Beyond that is Mexico.

On the boardwalk I saw a couple collared doves in a bush.

Great tailed grackles are everywhere here.  They make many different noises including the sound of the return key on an electric typewriter.  I know I'm dating myself with that analogy.

Better look at the Eurasian collared dove.

I saw American wigeon, Northern pintails, mottled ducks, redhead ducks and coots.  See the long yellow toes of the coot?

A showy egret sees a tasty snack and stretches it's neck out.

Missed it!

American alligator aligns it's body to catch the most sun exposure.  We have much in common.

This is the very first gallinule I've ever seen!

Blue crabs under the water.

I think that turtle is a red eared slider.

Holy alligator!

After the nature center I had lunch at the Grape Vine.  This message is displayed in all the establishments that serve liquor.  Interesting.to see what other states deem is important.