Winter Camping

A couple months ago I wondered what I could do to make this birthday special. I thought camping would be a good change of pace. A healthy dose of nature would hit the reset button and prepare me for another year. So on Friday after work I drove to the campsite where I had reserved a camper cabin. The cabin had heat and electricity. Snow had fallen but then it rained. The parking lot at William O'Brien state park was as slippery as a skating rink. I wished I had thought to bring my ice cleats. I was warm inside the cabin but, man oh man, that outhouse in the middle of the night was c.o.l.d. I sat down on the cold seat and a draft of cold air came up toward my nether regions. Jeez Louise it was cold. In the morning I tried to make coffee on the porch. The air was cold and there was a slight wind so it took a very long time to get the coffee percolating but it sure tasted good.

In the morning I had planned to hike around the area next to the Saint Croix.  I did not know they shut the road that goes under the highway. I had to park by the Interpretive Center and walk down that long and winding hill. Since the road had not been plowed it wasn't as slippery but it was still slippery.  As long as I walked in the deeper snow where my foot could get a grip I was fine.  I thought about just lying down on the road and sliding down on my winter coat but there is a big curve and I didn't want to go off the cliff or get the guard wires across my neck. The longer I hiked the more confidence I got and the faster I could go. Here is the lovely brook that forms the north boundary of the park. There is something extra beautiful about seeing open water next to a snowy bank.

Here is that giant climbing tree near the group camp site. I walked down past the amphitheater and past the boat landing and past the swimming beach and past the Riverside campgrounds. I made it back up the long and winding hill.  I had just arrived back to the cabin and was making a pb&j sandwich when Offspring #2, her friend, and her friend's dog arrived.

We left on another hike. I think I must have hiked more than six miles on Saturday. I feel so lucky to be able to do that because for many years I could not hike that far. On Sunday morning we went for another hike. I can definitely feel the medicinal benefits of being out in nature (even though it was freezing cold).

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

Ironically I finished reading The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley the same day I went to a funeral. If I had known it was a mystery I would not have selected it. The heroine in the story is 12 year old Flavia.  She lives in England in 1952. The author wrote a series of novels about her crime solving abilities. Flavia is a child prodigy with chemistry.  The dialogue is cute and the book went by quickly. If you like mystery stories you would probably like this book.

Coins in a Fountain

On this bench at the Marjorie McNeeley Conservatory at Como Park, I am at peace. I love this spot by this fountain.  I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, the temperature, the humidity, the people and the atmosphere. How many coins have I thrown into this fountain over my life time? Quite a few coins I think.  I wish I could remember all the wishes I have made here. If I could remember all my wishes I could tally up  how many came true and how many have not come true.

Barn Bluff

Years ago I took Offspring #2 and several nephews to hike up barn bluff in Red Wing, Minnesota. On that trip it was fall and the colors were beautiful. Today Offspring #2 and I took the trip again. After a scenic drive down the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi through Prescott, we arrived at the bluff a little after 1 p.m.  The parking area at the trail head was a thick layer of very slippery ice.  Somehow I managed to change out of my shoes and into my hiking boots without falling to the ground. As we proceeded to hike up to the bluff the path was icy. A few oak leaves and some branches lay in the ice and those helped me keep my grip but I was glad I had my hiking sticks. At first we were hiking next to Highway 61. The traffic noise was unpleasant.  We saw about ten people on the trail and they all looked happy. I liked to feel the cool air expanding my lungs as I hiked up the cement stairs. At the top of the stairs we hiked some more until we came to a cross roads.  We could go up more stairs or head north through the prairie. We chose the prairie route. After about 10 minutes of walking the prairie route got narrower and narrower. We came to realize that this was not a main path. This was a probably a high school student hang out path. At one spot the path made a fork. One fork was up the bluff. When I say up I mean literally up. The other path went under a tree and pretty much ended. So we chose to go up the path. I started up first. A red oak tree helped me about five feet up. After that it got difficult. The flat spots where I could put a shoe were far apart. My artificial hips are not used to taking such large steps.  I was on my hands and knees.  Sometimes rocks rolled out from under my feet. Once I grabbed a large triangular hunk of limestone. The big piece of limestone moved. I tried to put it back but with all my weight on one foot I did not succeed.  Sometimes I pulled at prairie grasses while thinking how deep down the roots of prairie grasses go (very deep). A couple times Offspring #2, who was behind me, put one of the hiking poles into the buff soil so my foot would not slide backwards. As we crawled up this seriously steep bluff we questioned ourselves. Was it a wise choice to take this path? Once we were past the halfway mark it made sense to keep going. Eventually we struggled to the top and could stand on two feet again. We both had muddy knees on our jeans. We found evidence of a bonfire. We meandered through the prairie until we found an official path. The weather at the top of the bluff was warmer than at the bottom. We could see the city of Red Wing far below us. Church bells were ringing. Cars were going up and down the streets. Red Wing looked very quaint from this angle. We could see the bridge from Wisconsin that we had passed over on the way here. The river was free of ice.  I saw an eagle soar above the bluff right at the tree line. We could see the water tower of Red Wing and a water tower to the north too. I tried to guess how far we could see. I thought we could see 25 miles in every direction. The hike to the south side of barn bluff was easy. The sun warmed up the soil to the point that the mud became slippery.  Mud clung to my boots.  Prairie grasses added to the mud and pretty soon my boots had mud/grass pancakes on the bottom of them.  On the south side of the bluff the steam from the power plant rose into the air.  As we headed back down the trail head we did not take the way we came. We went down the stairs instead.  We kicked out boots against the cement to knock some of the mud off. After a two hour hike we were back to the car again, pretty proud of ourselves for accomplishing such as feat as hiking barn bluff on a winter day.

My Hopes

On this long winter night, I hope you are cozy

I hope you have enough to eat

And I hope that you are not lonely or tired.

Happy Solstice

My work Christmas cactus is blooming today, the shortest day of the year. It's all down hill from here.  Each day will gain a moment or two more of light and lose a moment or two of darkness.  Or, as I said today, (twice) it's all down hear from hill.

Cashew Bait

At work the other day we were discussing mice in the house.  I am not the only one to have mice in my house.  I don't like mice in the house.  I hate finding mice droppings in my kitchen and in my laundry room. I loathe taking the mice and the trap out to the trash.  Disposing of the rodents is the worst part of the entire process. This year hasn't been too bad.  I found a most effective bait to put in the traps. Where I work we sell nuts as a fundraiser.  The nuts come from some company in Wilmar, Minnesota and they are deliciously fresh roasted.  I bought six pounds already.  Anyway, when I put a fragment of a delicious cashew in the mouse trap I have success. I caught three mice using cashews.  I told this to my coworkers. Today I was told that one coworker got three mice last night with the cashew bait. Another coworker got four mice with cashews. I am lucky in that I have not found any more mice droppings nor any more mice in the traps.  I hope the mice season is over.  I look forward to the ants in the house season which is sure to come around in only a few months.

The Luminaries

Reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Cotten took me a long time. This is one huge book. Much like stories about the gold rush in California in the 1850's, this book is about the gold rush in Hokitika, a settlement on the south island of New Zealand in the 1850's. This story is organized by the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Each Zodiac sign is associated with a man in the story. Capricorn, for instance, is associated with Aubert Gascoigne.  Gascoigne was one of my favorite men in the story because, as a legal clerk for a justice, seemed to be one of the  more genuine and kind men in the story. Like all stories about gold rushes, there are miners and bankers, claims and speculators, bars and opium dens, and whores. The book was entertaining but I would have preferred it to be at least one third shorter than it was.

Wobble!

See this new and blue piece of office equipment in my office?  Guess what it is? No, not a frisbee.  No, not a pasta bowl. And no, I didn't accidentally stand on a Smurf. My office neighbor gave me a inflated stability wobble cushion to use when I stand at my stand up desk. Seems to be there is an oxymoron in the name of my inflated stability wobble cushion. If it was stable it would not wobble. If it wobbles it is not stable. When I stand on the cushion, I am not stable. I wobble. Wobbling negatively affects my ability to focus on the task at hand. A couple times while standing on my wobble cushion, I looked down to see one foot on the blue cushion and one foot on the carpeting. I image that defeats the purpose of the inflated stability wobble cushion. What is the purpose of the inflated stability wobble cushion? I am not sure but I suspect the purpose of the inflated stability wobble cushion is to provide an unstable surface requiring me to use more muscles to remain upright on my feet. I will give it a try again tomorrow and hope don't wobble so much I fall over. That. Would. Be. Awkward.

Strange Day

Today at work the doors were locked. All visitors to the building had to come in the front door and be let in my two police officers.  I wasn't sure what was going on but I saw people coming and going so I went for my normal walk around Laddie Lake with my walking partner.  A company of men were roofing a house. At another house a group of 8 children played outside in the yard. I suspect that family does day care. As we walked in the warm sunshine I could see a helicopter flying overhead for the entire time we walked. Later I learned than an intoxicated armed man was in the neighborhood.  Local schools plus the senior center were on lock down too. The police department recommended people stay inside their homes. By 1:30 in the afternoon the man had been taken into custody less than a mile from where I work. Isn't it odd how one person's crisis can create a crisis for so many other people?

Winter Fun

At the fairgrounds in Anoka they have a Christmas village. Thousands of lights decorate the area creating a magical space for families to explore.  At the corner of the fairgrounds is figure eight space shaped with hay bales. In the center of the figure eight is an oval also made of hay bales.  Inside the hay bales are 6 or 8 tiny snowmobiles.  Each snowmobile has an orange flag on the back on a long pole.  Kids can ride around the figure eight on snow mobiles.  My father used to have one of those tiny snowmobiles.  He bought it for the kids.  The kids had a blast on that little machine in the winter.  I remember one winter at the farm.  I was in the bathroom downstairs.  Outside the window was a five foot tall bank of snow. I watched in amazement as a certain ginger haired nephew came roaring up on that tiny snowmobile.  He made no move to throttle down as he approached the snow bank. He hit that snowbank full tilt.  As I quickly zipped my jeans to go outside and assist I saw that the headlight on the snowmobile was pointed straight up at the night sky.  I went outside. He was fine.  He had no idea why I was concerned.  I saw the snowmobile parked upright against the snow bank, resting on the tail lights.  I think it was at a 90 degree angle but who knows for sure. I was full of adrenaline at the moment. Oh, gosh, that was a moment. Now I want to go snowmobiling again.

My Grandpa!

My Grandpa is pictured here.  See the row of six men?  He is the fourth from the left in the jaunty pose.  His sisters are the two women on the far right. Photo credit to Carver County Historical Society. The photo shows the Peltz and Petermann Threshing crew on the  Stenger farm near Victoria, MN  Just this week I was thinking of him.  My Christmas cactus is full of buds and will be blooming for the holidays. He helped me plant a piece of that cactus in soil. I miss my Grandpa.  I sure wish I did not inherit his osteoarthritis though.

Escape Into The Woods

My walking partner and I decided at work today that we have had enough of the stairs in our four story building.  Today it was nice enough outside to escape into the woods.  The sun was shining and a few birds were singing.  Here we are entering the woods.  In the distance you can see Laddie Lake. We walked along enjoying the weather while I played "You Are My Sunshine" on my harmonica.

Here we are at the lake looking back at the path we had just walked.  How lucky we are to be outside on such a lovely day, able to walk a mile in the December weather, breath deeply in the fresh air, and soak up some medicinal nature before heading back into work.

The Art Forger

My book club read The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro this month. We had a lively discussion last night about it and about art in general. Many of the people in the group go to the Minnesota Institute of Art.  I have been there too but not for many years. A  year ago I went to quite a few art museums.  I saw a couple in Poland and quite a few in Amsterdam.  It is really something to see an actual painting by a renowned artist. When I see an actual Van Gogh on the wall, I can't help but be impressed that Vincent himself touched this canvas. This book tells us that art forgery is quite difficult to distinguish from the real thing. Experts don't know as much as they think. If an art forger uses an old canvas and frame, paints the forgery exactly, covers it in India Ink, wipes it off, and bakes it in an oven, it is virtually impossible to tell the real thing from the copy. In this book the work that is forged is a Degas painting from a museum in Boston. The story is based on the theft of many paintings from an art museum in Boston.  The paintings have not been recovered yet although the FBI knows who took them. The story is interesting but it is also a 'how to' manual for future art forgers.

The Reminders

I judged a book by it's cover and picked up Val Emmich's novel called The Reminders. The cover was bright yellow so I liked it. The story involves a girl who has a condition called HSAM (highly superior autobiographical memory).  The girl is named Joan and she can remember what day a friend of hers came to dinner and what he talked about.  All this information is highly comforting to Gavin.  Gavin is a friend of her father and is mourning the loss of this friend. Because of his grief he is making some poor choices.  Joan helps him through his grief and he helps Joan accept the changes in her life too. Reading this I assumed HSAM was a fictional brain condition but it turns out to be real. Imagine your life if you could remember everything you did and said on every day of your life.  Would you live your life differently?

Woody's House

Today I spied an eight point buck eating sunflower seeds out of my squirrel proof bird feeder.  Well, it is no wonder the black sunflower seeds are going so fast. I went outside to move that squirrel proof bird feeder to a spot that would be too high for the deer to reach. On my way back from doing that I noticed foot traffic coming in and out of the wood chuck hole. Is the wood chuck family coming out some times or are other creatures coming into their den for a visit? Maybe both.

Russian Art

A friend of mine wanted to get together.  I suggested we tour the Museum of Russian Art. So we met at the museum which is at 35W and Diamond Lake Road. This museum has three floors. We started on the lower level.  There we found a collection of porcelain art. Porcelain people, porcelain animals, porcelain birds, and porcelain houses were on display. There was a television playing a Soviet version of the Nutcracker ballet animated movie. They had several holiday trees covered with Russian ornaments. A poster explained that during the Soviet rule, celebrating Christmas was outlawed. During that time celebrating New Years Day became a big event.  They used decorated trees to celebrate New Years and made ornaments of Grandfather Frost (who looked a lot like Santa Claus). Upstairs on the main level was more art.  One of the first pieces we saw was a large canvas of black polka dots on a white background. At first glance it didn't look like much but something about it drew me in. I stood close and could hear breathing and a heart beat.  As I watched the canvas expanded and contracted as if it was breathing. Nearby were three white vases on three white pedestals.  On each vase was the image of a naked woman doing back flips. One naked lady was yellow, one green and one red. The image of her came out of the top of the pedestal and was projected onto the vase. In another area was a interactive pad on the floor. If you stood on the pad a camera caught your image and recorded you.  If you stood there long enough the images and voices of the people who did this ahead of you also showed up on the screen.  We really hammed it up for the next people. In another area was a black shelving unit about 6 feet high, 10 feet long and 5 feet wide.  On the various open shelves were robots.  Some had eyes that moved and blinked when you walked by. If you stood there long enough a duck like robot would flap the wings and shake the webbed feet back and forth while quacking. On another shelf a headless robot dog would bark and wag the tail. They had a section of feminist art that was very interesting.  On the third level was a display called "Inside the Bee Hive." Along with the wall art of honey combs and bees were several honey comb pieces carved out of onyx.  The third level also has a museum store with lovely but expensive books, art, jewelry, clothing, toys, coffee, tea, and food. We spent two hours going through the museum and it was definitely worth our time.  I wonder why I never thought to go there before!

T Shirt Rug

I got the idea to make a t=shirt rug from a do-it-yourself article on the internet. Using a hula hoop as a loom you take one inch strips of tshirts and weave them together  I started with black and went to my three grey t-shirts. I had a couple bueoes and a tan one and finished it up with two orange t-shirts.  I don't like wearing words on my torso.  I don't liketo think people are reading my body. But I seem to collect t-shirts anyway so this would be a good way to get rid of them.  One of the gray t-shirts was from a Human Society Walk for the Animals in 1992. It had also served as a paint shirt and had quite a few color splotches of paint on it.  I was glad to see it go.

Here is the final product. Maybe it will flatten out with use but right now it appears to be a major tripping hazard. I don't think I will ever make another t-shirt rug on a hula hoop.

Many Truths Are Told In Saunas

Last night after work I went to the gym.  I started my workout by relaxing in the sauna. Nothing like 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees to warm up the bones and joints before I get started. I usually sit on the top seat where it is warmest and try to meditate. Last night the usual guy in black sweatpants and a hooded black sweatshirt was in there reading the paper like he always does.  In came a extremely muscled young man of about 25.  He had a tattoo of bird wings on his back.  It is very evident he works out frequently. A couple minutes later he was joined by his three friends. They take the same muscle improvement class together. They were talking about their plan for the day. Some were going to work on their biceps and others were doing squats. They all agreed that squats are a great workout because the leg muscles are so stressed the pain doesn't arrive until three days later. These three guys went to high school together. They are talking about their exercise routine and their muscle.  My attention to them ebbs and flows as I practice my meditation techniques.  I focus on my breathing and the sweat that is popping out of  my pores.  Suddenly the man with the wings on his back says, "Don't be in any hurry to have a girl move in." His friends ask him what is wrong. He is looking at his phone.  He explains that nothing is wrong.  He explains that with women, sometimes they get bored so they make up things that to argue about.  He explains that it was this way when he lived with his mother and two sister.  He would be alone in his room and the mother or sisters would come in and start trouble. He explains that now that the girlfriend has moved in he can't go to his room and shut the door because now it is "our" room. The other guys are snickering and glancing at me.  By now I have my hand over my face and I am snickering too because he is pretty funny in his explanation. He glances at me and says, "She is laughing because she knows it is true."  I stand up to leave.  "Yes," I agree, "I do know that is true. That is why I live alone!  Peace in the valley all the time for me."  They are all laughing now and they wish me a good night.  Many truths are told in saunas. Tonight was no exception.

Six Pack Abs

I was standing in line at the Anoka post office.  I heard the postmaster tell the customer ahead of me that the baby on this stamp had six pack abs. Another customer and I locked eyes and burst out laughing. When I got to the counter I bought two pages of stamps.  One page, naturally, features the child with the six pack abs. I just couldn't resist such a strong baby!

No Party For Me!

For weeks I have been looking forward to last night.  I was invited to a German themed holiday party and I was excited to go. I had a container of veggie sausage and home made sauerkraut in my back seat ready to share with my friends.  Unfortunately a storm brewed up. One minute there is no snow and the next minute it is snowing  and blowing wind. In the 3 block walk to my car from the birding day at the U of M, an inch of snow fell on my shoulders and head. Driving in the snow was like driving the USS Enterprise at warp speed with James T. Kirk at the helm. The roads were icy and slick. I thought the storm was stay to the south but it snowed like the dickens all the way to my house.  I decided not to go to the party but hibernate instead. The photo is from inside my car on my very own road. When I turn on the right blinker the camera on the mirror turns on. If there is a car where the red line is I know not to move over into the lane.  If there is a car where the first yellow line is, I can safely move over.  You might not be able to see the double yellow line above the singe yellow line.  If there is a car at the double yellow line it is very safe to move over. I often find that the view from the mirror camera is more beautiful that the view ahead of me.

Paper Session

Today I traveled to the Northstar Ballroom on the farm campus of the University of Minnesota for a birding event called the paper session. There I met many other birding nerds. Some of them I have met before and some I met for the first time. We heard talks about the new Bell Museum, growing hemp for bird food, bird genetics, tracking birds using MODUS towers, the status of grassland birds in western Minnesota, common nighthawks migrating through Duluth and the biological surveys in north central Minnesota.  I am definitely going to have to visit Duluth in mid-August this year to see the nighthawks fly through the town. Normally sitting still at a table listening to speakers all day is not my idea of fun but the topics are interesting and they show lots of bird photos, the time flies by like  a night hawk flies through Duluth.