Something Right

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being a good steward of the land I own.  Am I really making the best of these 2.25 acres?  Are my decisions ecologically sound?  I know I have made mistakes.  Planting the hedge of Amur maples was a mistake but I didn't know that at the time.  Like in many areas, what seemed like a great idea 15 years ago is now recognized as an error.  What about my decision to reduce the mowing and let much of the lawn go natural?  Will that hurt the resale value of the property?  Or maybe it will help the resale value.  I guess it depends on what type of person wants to buy it.  I use poison sparingly and I think that is a good decision.  I still have to aggressively treat the poison ivy and the buckthorn.  Every year I make some progress but things would go backward without my efforts.  Lately I have seen hundreds of black damselflies in my yard.  They fly up and surround me as I mow.  With tiny white spots at the top of their wings, their beauty is striking, black against the green. This sight of these numerous black damselflies lead me to believe I'm doing something right.

Memories

At least once, and sometimes twice, a month someone at work will compliment me on my memory.  I smile and say thank you and then add that my memory may be good for some things but day to day important things pass me by.  And then I can't remember an example of my forgetfulness because I'm too forgetful.  Today I was told I had a good memory.  An hour later I can't remember the house where I pick up my CSA (consumer supported agriculture) allotment.  I've already been to the house once so I would think I could remember.  But I don't.  I know the street is the name of an old US President.  Is it Tyler?  Harrison?  Adams?  Van Buren?  Polk?  Maybe it's Polk.  Many streets in Anoka have the names of old Presidents so that is not a good way to remember the name.  If I drive by maybe I will recognize it. I remember it had an enclosed porch with a decoration above the door.  I drive down the presidential streets of Anoka and realize many of them have enclosed porches.  What block was it on?  I know it is north of 7th Avenue but was it on the 600 block or the 500 block?  What happened to the piece of paper with the address?  I have to pull over and search all the hiding places in my car.  I find stuff I never knew was there.  Where did this Chinese pink fabric doodad come from?  I swear I have never seen that before!  I find the address.  The house is on the 400 block of Van Buren.  I'm glad to find it too because I know I have to open the porch door without knocking and go in and take my food out of a box with my name on it.  I sure don't want to open the wrong porch door without knocking. I pick up my asparagus, strawberries, 3 kinds of peas, two kinds of lettuce, red potatoes, kale while wishing I had as good of a memory as some people think I have.

Surprise! It's Raining!

I didn't think it was going to rain when I started mowing the lawn this afternoon.  The sun went away and dark clouds appeared in the west.  I was fairly proud of myself when I finished mowing just as the drops started falling.  I put away the mower and was taking my grassy socks off when I remembered I had laundry hanging outside.

So I go to take care of the laundry when I see I also have all my throw rugs outside.  And the canary!  The canary is also outside.  I guess it just goes to show how much the rain surprised me.

Pets?

When I first watched the movie "Chicken Run" many years ago I thought the farmer's wife was a villain.  She counted the eggs each chicken laid and threatened to make chicken soup of the chicken who laid the fewest eggs.  What a meanie!  Now, however, I am beginning to relate.  Are my chickens part of an urban garden or are they pets?  I've been home since June 1st.  Today is the 26th.  Guess how many eggs I have harvested in the past 26 days?  Go ahead and guess.  Yeah, zero.  Nada.  None.  One egg was laid halfway out of the coop and broke upon the brick it landed on.  So I harvested none.  These are the days with the most sunlight of the year.  Chicken lay more eggs when the days are long.  I tell them that too.  As I give them fresh water in the morning I'll say, "Today will be a long day girls.  Try to lay something."  Do they listen?  If they do listen they don't cooperate.  This makes me think my chickens have become pets.  There is no question about their future.  I will let them live out their lives.  I am keeping track of egg production though, almost like the farmer's wife.

Laddie Lake

  Lately I have been taking walks during my lunch break. I can leave my building, walk down a side street, turn onto a nature trail along the north side of Laddie Lake, and follow that all the way back to 89th Ave. where I can follow the sidewalk back to my building.  I can do this nice walk in 15 minutes if I'm by myself.  I usually ask other people, some of them don't get out much, to come with me.  With company this walk takes 20 minutes.  I like this walk for many reasons.  The path is accessible so I can ask people who use wheelchairs to come with me.  Pushing a chair helps me work out my arms as well as my legs.  Part of the path is sunny and part is shaded.  The shady parts are nice on days like today.  Part of the walk is near a lake, part is on a street, and part is in the forest.  I like the variety.  Last week we walked and saw at least 100 tiny toads hopping across the asphalt path away from the lake. The ground was alive with tiny toads.  We usually see red winged blackbirds but have also seen robins, blue jays, cardinals, gold finches, a great blue heron, a great egret, a bald eagle and a red tailed hawk.  My ultimate goal is to spot an owl in the forest.  There is a sign warning park users that coyotes have been spotted in the park and dogs should be kept on a leash. One day a butterfly landed on a person I was pushing in a wheelchair.  The butterfly landed on his upper chest just like a live orange boutonniere.  On about half of our walks we see a friendly bald man riding his three wheeled bike while smoking a cigar.  He typically says hello. He doesn't wear a shirt, and if he's wearing shorts I can see that he has an artificial leg.  One day we saw a muskrat by the lake.  We pass the Blaine fire station on the way back and sometimes we see the EMT's hanging out or playing Frisbee.  Today, as we were entering the forested part of the walk, a dragonfly with white and black spots on it's wings came flying at me right at head level.  I could see the dragonfly and it could see me.  Just like two people doing a dance in the hallway not knowing whether to zig or zag, the dragonfly quickly flew left, right, left, right, left, right and stayed right.   I stayed straight.  Being larger I felt I had the right of way.  I had to laugh out loud at the silly dragonfly's panicked moves.  I am very grateful that I can complete this walk again.  I used to do it regularly more than 10 years ago but quit because it was too painful.  Now I can eat, go for a walk, and resume my work feeling good.  I think of Laddie Lake as more of a swamp than a lake so I looked it up.  The deepest part of the lake is 4 feet deep. The lake has 77 acres but has no boat ramp or public access. Despite it's shallowness, the lake has blue gills, pumpkinseeds, walleyes and large mouth bass.

I Forgot To Remember

I read Su Menk's memoir I Forgot To Remember.  She wrote it with the help of Daniel de Vise'.  I'm sure it was a difficult book for Su to write.  When she was 22 years old she was taking care of her toddlers and actually holding one of them when a ceiling fan fell from the kitchen ceiling and struck her head causing a traumatic brain injury.  On top of that the strike by the ceiling fan wiped out all her memories.  She went to the hospital and stayed for three weeks.  With brain injuries the damage cannot be easily seen from the outside.  After three weeks the doctors sent her home to take care of her children and to resume her life.  She didn't know how.  She didn't even remember she had children.  She wasn't the best mother.  But Su paid attention to her mistakes and tried her best to fit in with other people.  Her body was still young and athletic and she used that strength. She ended up teaching aerobics classes.  Her husband helped take care of her and she came to think of him as a parent.  When he wanted to resume their marital relationship she was appalled.  Before her injury Su was a spunky woman who loved to party, smoke cigarettes and drink.  After her injury Su was passive and wanted desperately to please.  The smell of cigarettes made her ill and she had no interest in alcohol.  She became another person.  She writes honestly about her life as she has patched it together with medical records and the memories of her friends and family. Her co-author was obviously a lot of help as well.  She and her husband had another child, a daughter, and the two of them basically grew up together.  Su learned what her daughter learned in school and it wasn't until Su went back to college, as an adult, that she realized she had been faking it all these years.  I appreciated her honesty.  One ceiling fan changed the course of her life.  She never let it stop her.  Her courage and her energy and her love for her family kept her going.  This was an easy book to read and could be finished in an afternoon. 

In The Market For A Better Bucket

An acquaintance asked me what I was going to do tonight.  I told her I would monitor a creek, go the gym, monitor a river and go home to relax.  She asked about monitoring the streams.  I told her I check the clarity of the water, the temperature of the water, the recreational suitability and whether the stream was low, normal or high in volume.  She asked why and I responded that I did this for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  She asked why again and I explained that we want to monitor if the water is polluted or not because pollution makes it harder for the fish, frogs, turtles, birds, and people who use the river.  If the pollution is worse, we want to know that so we can take steps to improve the water quality.  If the pollution is better we want to know that too so we can continue to keep up the good work.  So when I went to monitor Coon Creek this afternoon, I had good intentions.  I threw my metal bucket over the edge of the bridge to collect enough water to fill my secchi tube.  When I pulled the rope back I got very little resistance.  I thought, "Oh, oh."  I pulled up my rope and saw that only the handle to my metal bucket was attached.  I walked to the other side of the bridge and saw my bucket bobbing along in the water.  I thought about crossing the bridge, trespassing in someone's yard, pushing my way through the brush and tall forbs down to the river bank, stepping into the creek, and retrieving my bucket. I considered my options. Yeah, no.  I'm dressed in my work clothes.  I'm wearing expensive shoes.  I'm probably not fast enough to catch up to that bucket. The stream was high because of all the rain that has fallen lately.  I watched it float away thinking, "Great, I've contributed to the pollution of this creek and the river it goes into.  I've added a metal bucket to all the other trash.  How ironic.  While volunteering for the Pollution Control Agency, I polluted."  Well, I had good intentions.  I meant well.  Better to loose a metal bucket than a plastic bucket (I think).  I'm in the market for a better bucket.

Yellow Headed Blackbirds

Male yellowheaded blackbird plus reflection.

Singing in the cattails.

Caught this one spreading his wings.

Aren't they beautiful birds?

After the "active me" won a mental tussle with the "lazy me" who wanted to be a coach potato (again), I took my kayak out for the first time this year.  I guess I hesitated because I wasn't sure I could get out of the kayak with my new hip.  Since I am able to get up off the floor, I thought at the very least I could roll out of the kayak, kneel on the lake bottom and get up that way.  In any case I'm glad I went.  I decided on Round Lake because I love the yellow headed blackbirds there.  Coon Lake is also close and has a much nicer landing area.  Coon Lake landing is sandy.  Round Lake is silty with a green muck floating on the surface. My flip flop got stuck in the muck and I put my foot down hard and ended up with green muck all over my legs and even on the back of my shorts and shirt.  Except for the entrance and exit, I prefer Round Lake over Coon Lake.  Round Lake has virtually no boat traffic and many fewer houses.  Round Lake has cooperative yellow headed blackbirds who let me get nice and close to take their photo.  Round Lake also had red winged blackbirds and a loon and a family of trumpeter swans.  I saw the swans on the nest.  The swans saw me too and started swimming to the north to draw my attention away from the nest.  I veered south to avoid disturbing them and they veered south to stay between me and their nest.  Yikes.  I do not want to be chased by the birds with the largest wingspan on our continent. I was no where near them but I did disturb them a little bit.  As I was resting on the water taking photos of yellow headed blackbirds, a muskrat swam by right in front of my kayak. Right in front of me it swam!   As soon as it saw me watching it with my mouth hanging open it got shy and ducked under the water. The white and yellow water lilies had buds but no blooms yet. I heard green frogs and tree frogs.  I heard a turkey gobble and I heard pheasants squawk.  I saw some kind of turtle surface and it's back was bumpy instead of smooth.  I saw thousands of dragonflys and some of them had white faces.  I heard some other birds but could not identify what they were.    And on top of all that noise I heard the constant hum of traffic on County Road 9.  When the sun started to sink it was time to paddle back to shore.  I was able to get out of the kayak with little trouble so I was glad I gave it a try. 

Where?

As I was moving my chickens to a fresh plot of land I noticed the nanking cherries were ripe.  I got these two cherry bushes as one of the free gifts from Gurneys Seeds 20 years ago.  I planted them just anywhere and they've done well.  Just like my Grandma used to do with the hem of her house dress, I used the hem of my shirt to collect the berries.

Now I have 8 cups of cherries.  Where can I find the energy to transform this fruit into jelly?

Walnut Catkin Season

Even though I had my black walnut tree trimmed earlier this spring, it is making a mess.  The male catkins are about done falling off the tree and landing near the front of my house.  These catkins land on the concrete sidewalk and stain it brown.  They get dragged in the house on my shoes. They land on the roof and stay there.  When rain falls the catkins turn the water brown and dank.  The water in my rain barrel is so dark brown that I can't see the bottom of a bucket if the water is more than two inches deep.  The water out of the rain barrel smells swampy and nasty too.  I think the tree is just about done dropping catkins.  I sweep the sidewalk clear and I can tell fewer and fewer are dropping each day.  I'll be glad when this mess is over.

The Women

I think Frank Lloyd Wright is a fascinating man.  Part genius and part con man, he is a mixture of contradictions.  That is why I read The Women by T. C. Boyle.  This book focuses on the four women in Frank's life.  There was his first wife and mother to six of his children, Kitty.  Then he left her to live with Mamah Cheney even though he was shamed by the press and his neighbors and he lost business because of it.  When she was murdered and the house he built for her burned to ashes, he married Miriam Noel who was addicted to morphine.  While still married to her he took up with Olgivanna and had children with her.  All of his relationships were overlapping!  Frank thought he was better than the average person and laws were for ordinary people, not him.  He didn't pay his bills and he swindled people out of money all while designing some of the best buildings in the country.  He designed the Imperial Hotel in Japan in part to get away from the unforgiving press who would haunt his front door in Wisconsin.  This was a fascinating book.  I guess if I had one complaint is that it described the death of Mamah in a gratuitously violent manner.  As a historical fiction no one could have known the gruesome details that were mentioned.

Makes My Head Hurt Just Watching

Look how the feathers on the head and neck of this woodpecker shake with each blow.  I am reminded of a dog shaking off water after a swim.  Except with the woodpecker we can see the hard impact on the skull.  I think it's fascinating how the tongue is rooted at the top of the beak and wraps the long way around the skull.  The tongue head cushion might help a little but my head hurts just watching this video. 

I Confess

 

Lest you think I am all happiness and blue birds, I confess I gave this exact look to the young man sitting on my favorite piece of weight lifting equipment at the gym while he updated his facebook account and caught up on his timeline for ten solid minutes.  After that he pulled a couple of times while grunting aloud, slammed down the weights, and walked away without wiping down the machine.  Ugh!  I know it might be too much to ask all people to wipe down their machines but please, don't slam the machine.  Update your facebook without hogging a machine.  And for Pete's sake, if you find yourself grunting aloud, go down to a lower weight.

Sing Me A Lullaby

I have a black spruce tree outside my bedroom window where a cardinal family has a nest.  Lately the cardinals have been singing me to sleep in the evening and waking me up in the morning.  I prefer the sound of the cardinals over the house wren who also calls to me in the morning.  The song of the cardinal is more musical and gentle.   I like to think the cardinal is singing only for me although I know it isn't true.  Cardinal song is one of the benefits of the summer season that I very much appreciate.

 

 

For You Alone

I got For You Alone by Susan Kaye before my trip to Washington.  I thought it would be a good book to read while traveling.  I chose it because it was about a Navy captain.  Unfortunately I chose a dud.  The book was long and drawn out.  Although Frederick Wentworth is a Navy captain experienced in fighting against Napoleon, he is seriously lacking in social skills.  He likes one woman.  He misunderstands a situation and, like a seventh grader, he tries to make her jealous.  Due to his juvenile behavior another woman assumes he will marry her.  He does nothing to fix the situation but stews in his own agonized juices until I couldn't stand it anymore and had to put the book down.  Why can't a military leader just say what is on his mind?  This book was written in the Jane Austen style but not with the Jane Austen talent.  The Captain's behavior frustrated me but I did enjoy some parts of the book especially the chapters that outlined the Captain's relationship with his older brother.  I understand this book is the second of a series of two.  I won't bother picking up the first one..

Time Will Tell

Yesterday I spent $2.59 on a container of corn meal and I sprinkled the entire contents on some giant ant colonies close to my house.  I guess cornmeal slowly kills ants.  They eat it but can't digest it and slowly starve.  Normally I don't mind ants in the yard but these are giant colonies as in 3 feet in diameter.  I sprinkled cornmeal only on the colonies close to the house.  I don't need any more ants in the house.  I have enough already.  Using cornmeal feels really odd.  Am I feeding ants or killing ants?  I guess time will tell.

I Said Bars

I offered to make bars for a certain young person's high school graduation party.  I was thinking rice krispie bars, lemon bars, and brownies.  Instead of bars I got Mars.  I got roped into making a photo booth about Mars. I guess my heart strings are easily tugged.  Using a black plastic table cloth for a background and a hand colored round earth plus stick on stars, I convinced some people to stand there while I took their picture. I offered props.  I think the props helped the photo shy people because they could be disguised.  I offered Martian sunglasses, Martian antennae, astronaut helmets (no, they weren't tv sets thankyouverymuch), a rocket ship, and word bubbles that said extremely clever things such as "Take Me To Your Leader,"  "I Am Going To Mars,"  "Congratulations Michelle," and "Keep On Swimming."  Keep on swimming has nothing to do with Mars since the water there is all frozen.  This three word affirmation has helped this graduate through tough times so I thought it would be appropriate.  Notice the expert drawing of Dory?  Yeah, I did that. Surprised, huh?  It looks that good. If you google "How To Draw Dory" you could do it too.  Bars would have been fun to bake but Mars was fun too.

A Walk In The Woods

My book club read A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson.  I've read other travel books by him including In A Sunburned Country which was about Australia.  He is a comedic writer.  One person in our group really disliked the book because it wasn't helpful to anyone who might read the book in preparation for actually walking the Appalachian trail.  I never thought of it as an outdoor guide book.  I thought of it as a comedy.  And it is a comedy.  Bryson makes fun of himself and his friend - the one and only friend who would agree to go on such a hike unprepared.  He also makes fun of some of the people he meets on the trail.  His friend, Stephen Katz, is woefully out of shape and not that bright.  Stephen makes the book.  Bryson ends up finishing the trail without Stephen and once Stephen leaves, the book isn't as funny.  I did learn that the book will come out as a movie this fall.  Although Bryson and his friend Stephen ares in their mid 40's in the book, they will be played by Robert Redford and Nick Nolte who, I believe, are in their 70's?  Both seem a tad old for this book but I'm still inclined to see it.  I mean, it's Robert Redford, right?  I've been into him ever since I saw "Jeremiah Johnson."  He's older but he's still got charisma.  Nick Nolte? I'm not so sure about him..  If you read this book as entertainment and not as an actual travel guide to hiking the Appalachian Trail, I think you might like it.  And by the way, there is a bear on the cover but they never do see a bear on the trail.

Can We Do This Every Day?

Last night I had the opportunity to visit my grand daughter on a video chat.  Was it fun?  Hell yes it was fun!  She is so cute!  Her little cheeks are getting chubby.  Her neck is getting more folds.  She was wearing that green and white striped pea pod outfit she wore before.  Even her arms are thicker.  She had her eyes open for 10 of the 30 minutes I stared at and admired her image.  Her parents were there too and it was fun to see them.  I even heard the donkey bray!   At the end they picked up her tired and limp little hand and moved her arm to wave at me.  She was so relaxed her fist wobbled back and forth like a flag in the wind.  "Can we do this every day?" I asked in an excited note before we said farewell.  Turns out every day is a bit much.  Weekly would be a more appropriate choice.

Back In Time

 Last night I went to my book club meeting.  Another member was presenting book options for us to vote on when, whoosh!  I traveled back in time.  I left the meeting and cartwheeled, head over heels, back in time about half a century (don't judge) to when I was in third grade.  My Dad took me to the library.  I got my first library card.  If I remember right my card was orange (my favorite color) or possibly peach.  On the cardboard card was a small metal strip with numbers embossed on it.  I chose my first books to borrow from the library.  I got two and I remember them clearly.  I got Heidi by Johanna Spryl and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.  I got two of the best children's books ever written.  I loved Heidi!  She ate bread and cheese for lunch with her grumpy grandfather.  Just being with him changed him into a nicer man.  Heidi walked the mountain side and made friends with the goatherd, Peter, who had a blind mother.  And after I finished Heidi I read the Wizard of Oz.  Although the movie had been out for years I never saw it until it was shown on television.  My first trip to the Emerald City was mostly in my mind.  What a wonderful trip up the yellow brick road it was.  Dorothy was the heroine of a modern day fairy tale and I loved every single word of it.  The Cowardly Lion was my friend and so was the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. Flying monkeys and wicked witches were not my friends.  Ever since that first day, libraries have been an important part of my life.  I always have books out from the library.  I have six checked out right now. I've saved thousands of dollars by using the library.  I was lucky. I got hooked on the library on my first trip when the librarian stamped the due date on a small card and put it in a pocket inside the back cover of Heidi and the Wizard of Oz.  Not all books have been as good as those first two but I'm glad i started with Heidi of Switzerland and Dorothy from Kansas.

King of Devil's Island

I am a fan of foreign films.  "King of Devil's Island" is a film based on a true story from Norway.  A prison for juvenile delinquents in 1915 was so bleak, so hopeless, so terrible that the boys turned on the staff.  The Norwegian military came out to Bastoy Island to make the situation right.  The movie was very entertaining. That island still contains a prison to this day but now it is known as the most lenient prison in the world.  Ironic turn of events.  The movie was sad.  I can't explain why but sometimes I enjoy a sad movie.  I don't like to feel sad but watching a sad movie isn't the same as feeling sad myself.

Finally a Bloom

A friend of mine gave me some peonies from her yard in Ham Lake about 4 or 5 years ago.  I planted them next to my garage where they struggled to survive.  My chickens like to scratch up the sand next to the house to take their dust baths.  This disturbed the soil around these peonies.  For most of last year and all of this year, I have restricted the chickens from walking freely around the yard and the peonies have appreciated that very much.

Frogging

We had a great night herping.  Two experienced herpers and one very competent newby went out on the Kroschel frog and toad survey near Mora last night.  Although the sky was fairly clear we never saw the moon on the route because it didn't rise until the route was over and we were on our way home.  We heard frogs at every stop.  Tree frogs were the most common singers but we also heard spring peepers, chorus frogs and American toads.  We also heard veerys calling from a close distance and winnowing snipe.  At several stops fire flies lit up the night sky.  Some hovered just above the grass and others hung out at the tree top level.  The night was beautiful and full of life.  I am amazed how much energy frogs put into propagating their species.  I wonder how similar we humans are to animals.  I've read that Genghis Khan had between 1,000 and 2,000 children. He doesn't seem frog like to me.  Sperm donors had many children but I think they're in it for the money more than passing on their genes.  Brigham Young had many offspring with multiple wives.  Jim Bob and Michell Duggar also have many children.  I can't pretend to understand the motivations involved with them but I suspect it is more complex than frogs croaking in the swamps last night.

I Got All Day

Two more early morning visits from the red fox this morning.  The reign of terror has begun.  Bring it on red fox!  I got all day to practice my slingshot accuracy.  I'll be ready for you in the morning.

No Regard

With absolutely no regard for a working woman with a cold that *!X&! red fox came by at 5:20 in the a.m. to harass my chickens.  That is exactly 40 minutes before my alarm goes off.  I was not happy. Also, this *!X&! fox would not leave when I yelled at it from my bedroom window.  Oh, no, this red fox would only leave once I put clothes on and walked out onto the deck to yell at it which woke me fully up. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I do not need this much life and death drama in the morning.

Irony

Irony

 I ran into a couple of problems on my trip back from Bremerton.  Offspring #1 really wanted to drive me to the airport but I hated to inflict a minimum of a 4 hour drive on the new father.  So I took the ferry to catch the light rail to the Seattle/Tacoma airport.  No problem, right?  I took the light rail to the airport 18 months ago.  A week earlier I accompanied Offspring #2 to the same light rail station.  I knew where it was.  Plus I had a picture of the google map of the route on my camera. I knew I had to walk 2 blocks up and 3 blocks to the right from the ferry terminal to get to the station.  No problem at all.  The whole family was kind enough to leave the house at 6 a.m. to ride the ferry to Seattle with me. This gave me an extra hour of grand baby holding time.  And I got to be part of her very first boat ride.   I found it hard to leave her but did manage to do it without tears.  Wearing my backpack and pulling my suitcase I walked to the train station.  A homeless man without any teeth explained that the station was padlocked shut.  I kinda didn't believe him.  He told me where to walk to get to the next train station and after he walked away I looked.  He was right.  The entrance to the building that housed the train station was padlocked shut with a thick chain.  I started walking to the next train station.  I came upon a man and a woman also wheeling suitcases.  When we waited for a red light I asked if they were looking for the light rail to the airport.  They said they were.  I told them I would follow them.  In a heavy German accent the man said he didn't think that would be a good idea because they weren't sure of the way.  They had scouted out the first train station last night and it wasn't padlocked.  We walked together.  At another red light I asked a Seattle police officer where the train station was.  He pointed the way.  We walked there.  The second train station was padlocked shut too!  This is a Saturday morning at 7 a.m.  We didn't know why the stations were locked. No signs explained what was going on.  The website never warned us about closed stations.  We came upon a young man with a backpack and another traveler with a suitcase who were confused why the station was locked.  The young man had to get to work and he took off running toward the Seattle stadium.  The woman traveler said she had used this train station many times before.   Then she got on the phone and ordered a cab.  She looked up at us and asked, "Should we all share a cab to the airport?"  In an instant I knew the answer.  "Yes!" I said.  I looked at the German couple and spoke for them, "We all want to share a cab."  Bossy, aren't I?  She ordered the cab.  The ride would take 25 min. and would cost $45.  With the tip it would come to $13 each.  I looked in my coin purse.  I had a ten dollar bill, two one dollar bills, and six quarters plus pennies and a dime.  Wow!  This was meant to be.  A very large black car pulled up.  The trunk was so large the four suitcases fit easily.  We three women fit in the back seat while the German man and the cabbie rode up front.  We had a nice talk on the way to the airport and they all admired my photos of my new granddaughter. Looking back I can see that I was surprisingly calm about these travel problems.  I wasn't anxious.  I wasn't worried.  I figured if I missed my flight I'd catch the next one.  We got to the airport about 8 o'clock which was slightly earlier than the light rail would have gotten me there.  Once there we saw the light rail train arrive.  So the light rail was working but the downtown stations were padlocked shut.  Go figure.  I got frisked at security because of my titanium hip.  The TSA agent also wiped my clothes with a cloth and tested it for bomb materials.  I passed all the tests.  But on Monday I realized that the last time I saw my driver license was while, arms held out straight from my shoulders, I was being felt up at the airport. She even ran her finger inside the waist of my blue jeans. I worried about my drivers license on Tuesday.  I called the Seattle airport lost and found office on Wednesday to learn they did not have my license.  I know it is illegal to drive without a license so today, after work, I applied and paid for a replacement license.  Less than 90 minutes later I open my mailbox and, lo and behold, someone from Alaska Airlines mailed my license to me.  Irony. 

Don't Think About Silos

I attended a meeting at work today about a certain database system named after a fruit (cough *apricot* cough).  I struggled.  After a 3 week vacation I struggled to even think about data and data bases.  I struggled because I'm fighting a cold.  I struggled because one person asked in the middle of a database discussion, "You mean like a silo?"  A silo?  Seriously?  I picture a red barn and three tall metal silos and wonder what a silo has to do with data bases.  Silos are for storage.  Databases store data.  Silos store corn and wheat and possibly other grains.  Sugar beets don't go in silos.  Does cotton go in silos? People die in silos. People fall into silos and they can't breathe and they die.  Silos are dangerous. Silos are a part of the farming culture.  Silos can be seen from great distances. I had to force myself to STOP THINKING ABOUT SILOs because I was falling behind in the discussion.  This meeting was a conference call and also one of those "Go To Meetings" where we share a view of a computer screen on the internet.  We had six people physically at the meeting and three more attending from Texas.  The discussion was going fast and furious and my brain struggled to keep up the pace. The Texas people work for the fruit named database system.  Customer service is a priority with them and these three people had excellent customer service skills.  I noticed a pattern.  After one of us speaks the data base people respond with a positive statement (such as "That's great!") followed by a recap of what we said and another question.  We have done a lot of work on this database but haven't really been able to reap the benefits yet.  That is why we called the meeting.  Instead of saying "a lot of work" euphemisms were being tossed about.  "Meat and potatoes" was used and because of the great customer service technique meat and potatoes got repeated quite a bit as they validated what we said.  But one of the database people scored BIG  points with me when she recapped one of our statements by saying, "You have put a lot of work into the meat and potatoes or tofu and potatoes of this program."  For once my mind was on topic.  "Hear, hear!" I say applauding her inclusion of those of us eating a plant based diet.  The carnivores at the table snickered. I have never heard anyone say tofu and potatoes instead of meat and potatoes.  I know quite a few vegetarians.  None of them has ever used that phrase with me.  I like tofu too but only if Offspring #1 cooks the tofu.  I've tried making tofu and it turned out inedible terrible every time.  Now that the meeting is over and I'm at home, I am free to think about other things, like silos.

Birds in Washington

Western Tanager

I didn't go to Washington to see the birds but seeing birds is part of what I do. I saw lots of American robins, Canadian geese, black capped chickadees and mallards. The mallards looked different because their heads were more purple than green but they were still mallards.  I saw lots of crows and a few ravens. I had trouble identifying the pelagic cormorants.  I saw many long black birds flying over the water.  They looked like cormorants except each had a white patch on either side of their tails.  It wasn't until I saw one fly up and land on top of a post next to the ferry I was riding that I could get a really good look and identify it as a pelagic cormorant.  I saw a white winged scoter on the ferry too.  Walking back from the beach I heard a bird scream at me like a blue jay but not quite a blue jay.  This bird demanded my attention.  With it's black head and head crest I identified it as a stellars jay.  I saw a robin sized bird with a reddish breast but a black head in the yard.  I thought it could be a towhee.  I looked it up and it turned out to be a rufous sided towhee.  I was very proud of myself for guessing the towhee part.  I saw a hummingbird fly by overhead and could see it wasn't a ruby throated hummingbird.  But the underside of a hummingbird is not enough for me to identify it.  One late afternoon I was snugging my grand daughter when the sight of a new bird with a red head and a yellow throat forced me to leap (as much as an old arthritic woman holding a newborn can leap) up out of the chair to find my binoculars.  My first thought was a Blackburnian warbler but this bird was too big to be  warbler and it was eating fruit from a tree instead of bugs so it couldn't be a warbler.  What could the pretty bird be?  Turns out it was a Western Tanager.  A Western tanager is such a pretty bird.  Scarlet tanagers are cute but Westerns are pretty.  I think it would be great fun to go on a guided bird tour while out there.

Hard to Say Goodbye

I'm back at work now.  People ask me if it was hard to say goodbye to this little girl.  Here she is in her very first pair of blue jeans.  Honestly, I have to say yes, it was hard to say goodbye.  I thought I'd say goodbye the night before.  I knew I had to catch the 6 a.m. ferry to Seattle.

To my pleasant surprise she came with me on the ferry ride over so I had an extra hour to hold her on her very first boat ride.  We bonded even closer going across the Puget Sound.

The ferry takes only about an hour and soon Seattle was showing in the eerie morning light.  Then I really had to say goodbye.

I told her it would be easier for me if she would be hungry and cry for her mother.  She didn't listen.  She stared up at me contentedly with her big blue eyes and made cute faces at me.  The little stinker!  Being content and extra cute made it all the more difficult for me.  Now my arms are cold and empty without her.  I miss snuggling her and kissing her and singing her songs and taking her out on the deck in the evening to watch and count the crows flying home to their roost at night.  And I miss singing her "Once Upon A Dream."