Clothing Preferences

Last week at lunch we were talking about clothing. I said I prefer not to wear clothes with words on them.  It's true. Why advertise for a company when I have to pay for the product? I especially am aggravated by clothes that say PINK but are not pink.  And if the word PINK is on the rear end?  Well, that is the worst. Anyway, one of my coworkers, always ready with a snarky response, said she would get  me a shirt with Braille lettering on it for me.  I told her, "You crossed the line there!  There was a line  and you  went over it." She laughed. We were all having fun. And then today I came across this article. Someone went ahead and made clothing with Braille lettering on it. Actually the dresses and jackets are pretty cute.  I think I could wear one.

Cake Anyone?

I went overboard on baking cakes this weekend. I have a birthday party to go to for two very important girls in my life.  One wanted a rainbow cake and the other wanted a dinosaur cake. So here are my results.  Yes, I know brown isn't a color in the rainbow but just pretend it is violet. The dinosaur cake is a stegosaurus with the head at the top and the tail at the bottom.  You might have to use your imagination.

The Future Home Of The Living God

I got lucky on this book on CD because Louise herself reads The  Future Home of the Living God to me. I love being read to and it is especially nice to hear the author read it herself. Louise is one of my favorite Minnesota authors. Someday I hope to visit her shop, Birchbark Books, in Minneapolis.  This story is a retelling of Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, but set in Minnesota. When Cedar, the heroine of the story, is sequestered at Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis I could not help but remember my stay there when Offspring #1 was born. I remember being not too happy with the nursing staff when they refused my Grandmother entrance to my room when my brother-in-law waltzed right in at an awkward moment. "Let my Grandma in!" I yelled from my  bed. My indignity is nothing compared to what Cedar goes through. I loved every minute of this dystopian story.

Chicken Absconded

I am dragging today. I went to bed on time but was woken up by a sound outside my window.  I got up and heard more noise. I shined my lamp out the window and went out to investigate. Some animal had dug under the chicken run and absconded with one of my Americauna hens. Dang, that was disappointing. I have a feeling it wasn't the fox though. The fox comes at dusk and dawn. This was at 2:15 a.m. Maybe a weasel?

Building Resilient Landscapes

Last night my chapter of the Minnesota Master Naturalists had a meeting. The topic was Building Resilient Landscapes and the speaker works for the Anoka County Soil and Water Conservation as an ecologist. As she spoke she said several times, "What I love about the Anoka sand plain . . ." and I kept thinking about if I loved the Anoka sand plain or not. The sand plain is the least productive soil for agriculture but it does have quite a few rare plants. She spoke about in the process of building resilient landscapes, much plant killing is required.  Besides buckthorn and garlic mustard and purple loose strife there is wild parsley.  She said there have only been two places in the county where wild parsley has been spotted. She asked if we saw any wild parsley we should call her right away because she has hopes that it won't spread and be as common as it is in the southern metro  area. She showed us maps of what Anoka County looked like one hundred years ago and what it looks like now. At the end of the talk she gave us ideas for volunteer opportunities. One example of a volunteer opportunity is removing rare species before an area is developed. Up until now the department of natural resources has  not allowed rare species to be removed before the bulldozers come in. The thought was some plants have symbiotic relationships with organisms in the soil and the plants would not survive if moved. But now they changed their minds because rare plants are not going to make win a match with a bulldozer. Anyway, in northern Blaine, there  is a housing development going in a place where they found lance leafed violets. I signed up to help dig up those lance leafed violets. The violets will be taken to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for culture and propagation efforts.

Good Grief!

Last night I went to a grief group. A  lady at my gym told me the group had been helpful to her more than the other resources she tried. The first half of the two hour class was a lecture by a man who taught grief classes at various colleges and institutions. He was a good speaker. He spoke of a hypothetical man or woman who lost a spouse. That person is more than a widow or widower. He spoke of a man who had a great marriage of  over fifty years, a successful career, a lovely home that he maintained himself, and two grandchildren. He had a very happy life. In the span on one year his wife contracted a terminal illness and died, his employer let him go because he reached the mandatory retiring age, and his son moved out of state taking the grandchildren with him. Since he had lost so much he felt that his house, once his pride and joy, was huge and empty and sad so he sold it. This man's grief was much more than just loosing a spouse. As a coping mechanism our speaker suggested we get a spiral notebook.  One the first page write the question, "What have I lost?' He suggested we leave 15 blank pages after that  question because when you loose someone close, you lost more than just  that person. For some people they also lost a best friend or financial security or a shoulder to cry on or the only person on the planet who knew all their secrets. He said it can take  years to fully realize what all you have lost when someone dies.  And until you process all that you have lost, you remain stuck  in grief, spinning your wheels and not progressing. On the 16th page he suggested you answer the question, "What do I still  have?" Leave many pages for this question too because as you pass through the rougher stages of grief you can come back to it and get comfort from what you have written. The third and final question is "What can I do with what I have?"  After the lecture we broke into small  groups of 4 to 6 people.  There was only one sibling group. Most of the groups were spouses. In my group I had 3 other people. One  had lost a sister, one had lost a brother, and the third one  had lost both a sister and a brother. We talked  for a full hour about our situations. As I  drove  home I felt better. Knowing I am not alone; realizing that people loose siblings all the time, gave me some peace of mind. This grief  group runs four more times and I think I will go again.

Life Is About Balance

On Sunday afternoon I had a lot of catching up to do around the house. There is never any shortage of things to do around the house. But I remembered reading about Aristotle on my trip to Greece. Aristotle said life is all about keeping a balance. So because of Aristotle I stopped my chores, went out the garage, unhooked the battery tender from the battery on the motorcycle, and inserted the key. I sat on the bike and pushed the starter button.  Nothing happened.  I moved it forward a foot and tried again. Nothing. I made sure the kill button was off. Nothing. Shucks!  With the battery tender on you would think I would have some juice in this battery.  I got off the bike and examined the gas knob.  The gas was open. I examined the key. Oh, right. Duh. Inserting the key is not enough. I have to turn the key to the on position.  I turned the key to on and tried again. After a few tries the motorcycle started up! Woop! Woop! I quickly put down the kickstand and got off so I could open the garage door before I was overcome by carbon monoxide. That is was when I realized I was dressed only in a tank top ,boxer shorts and slippers. I ran in the house and left the bike running. I donned my farmer jeans, my motorcycle jacket, some boots, and my helmet. The bike was still running. Normally I don't ride until my street has been swept of sand.  My street has not been swept of sand yet so I drove slowly and carefully around my neighborhood.  As I circled each block multiple times I reflected on how much this neighborhood has changed in the past 27 years. After four miles I put the bike back into the garage. A successful first trip had occurred and I was very pleased. Now, according to Aristotle, it was time to go back to do more work in the house. Like a good philosophy student, that is what I did.

Three Two One Jump

Last night I had the luxury of staying in a hotel with Offspring #2, my lovely daugher-in-law, and my two grand girls. We stayed in a place with a pool. We all donned our suits and joined in the crazy fun in the pool area. The place was crowded with unsupervised kids and a few adults who weren't really paying attention. Chaos reigned supreme. I got hit in the head with beach balls, hacky sacks, and the limbs of other kids. One kid had a squirt gun that hit me straight in the face. That wasn't fun. The pool had a kiddie area and a hot tub and also a larger pool with a long water slide. I love being in the water.  I also like holding grand girls so I had double the fun. After a couple of hours in the pool we were exhausted and starving so we cleaned up and got some Chinese take out. Our room was on the fourth floor with a view of the UPS trailer parking area. On the elevator we tried to make the elevator car jump a little by counting down (three, two, one) and all jumping together. This is just an old past time Offspring #2 and I used to do years ago. In the morning I headed down for a cup of coffee with the youngest grand girl. We walked together to the elevator. She likes to press the buttons. As soon as the door closed she bent her knees, said three two one, and jumped. I jumped too. When she jumps her feet don't actually leave the floor. Her little body jerks up as if she jumped but her feet remain planted. The same goes for me. As we left this morning we sang songs including this classic Easter song that not many people know.

A Smelly Day For Chickens

The time? Three minutes after six in the morning. I am in that zone where I am not awake and yet not asleep - the purgatory between Friday night and Saturday day. What pulls me out of purgatory into Saturday day? The sound of panicked chickens wakes me up. I rouse myself and look out the bedroom window to see a skinny fox with black feet standing ten feet away from the chicken run and it looks like it is about to make another threatening run at the coop. I open the window. I yell, "I see you! Get out of here!" As if it can understand English, the fox turns so I can see the white tip of it's tail and scurries off to the east down the hill.  Are we going to go through this waltz all summer; ;morning after morning after morning?  I hope not. After feeding and watering the chickens I give them fresh bedding of wood chips.  I take 3 rags and place them east of the coop.  I soak each rag in wolf pee. I tell the chickens they will have a smelly day but better to smell wolf urine than be a fox's chicken dinner.

Lisette's List

Susan Vreeland wrote the book, Clara and Mr. Tiffany.  I liked that book so I read Lisette's List too.  Actually someone in my book club offered this book but the group didn't select it. This book is an historical fiction.  Lisette starts out as a young bride.  At age 20 she and her husband leave Paris for a small town in the south of France because of the German threats in 1939. Lisette loves Paris. She loves the art museums, the cafe's and the nightclubs of Paris. She has a possible apprenticeship to an art gallery in Paris. She can't understand why her husband, also in the art business, wants to leave Paris for a small town. Once in the town she meets a man, Pascal, who mined ochre and sold paints to Picasso , Ceyzanne and Chagall. Pascal advises her to keep a list and do the important things first.  As Lisette adjusts to small town life and all the changes that come with war, she does keep a list of the important things. This story reminded me to focus on the pleasant moments and the beauty of life that surrounds me if only I take a moment to notice.

The Sibling Effect

I decided to read this non-fiction book about siblings. Jeffrey Kluger writes about his three siblings and about the science of the effects siblings have on each other. Unfortunately there is not a lot of solid science on this topic. That does not stop Jeffrey Kluger though. He throws out a few statistics and comments on how unreliable those statistics are and follows up with a wild, hardly connected story from his own family or some other famous siblings. The book was entertaining though.  I have always believed that relationships are the most important thing in life.  This book gives the same message.

Bednob and Broomstick

My book club chose a young adult book by Mary Norton called Bedknob and Broomstick. I read it in February.  Back in February I was commuting to work on icy highways in stop and go traffic and many times I wished I could just twist the knob on my bed to get where I wanted to go. To prepare for this meeting I also watched the movie which is nothing like the book at all. The old movie, starring Angela Lansbury, totally "Disneyfied" the book. The book is a charming story and the movie is a charming story. The book and the movie are not the same story except there is a bed and 3 children in both. This story made me think about where I would go if I had a magical bed that could take me to a time in the past or in the future or anywhere on this planet. Where would you go if you had the chance?

Cleaner or Dirtier?

Today was laundry day. Since the sun was shining I decided to hang my clothes out to dry on the deck.  As I walked by the deck door I saw a black capped chickadee land on my underwear (gray with blue polka dots). The chickadee picked a piece of thread or lint off my underwear and kept it in it's beak. Seriously? The chickadee flew away with my underwear lint and took it. Where did the chickadee take my thread or lint?  Off to the chickadee nest I guess.  My question is: Is my underwear cleaner or dirtier after a chickadee stood on it and pecked the lint off?

Multi-colored Snow

I was lucky enough to have my grand girls and their mother over to my house for a couple of days. I took a day off work because family is more important than work. I cleaned the house and prepared some Greek fava beans for lunch. Then I went outside to check out the driveway. It was a mess.  I had not shoveled the heavy wet snow. I backed my car out of the garage and drove to the street. I could feel the driveway trying to suck my car into the mud and snow but I made it out.  I drove back in the driveway and parked to one side so that my family could drive right in and park in the garage making it easier to get everyone in the house with all their stuff. Then I saw that the undercarriage of my car had left a mark in the snow. I knew her rental car was a low car too although probably not as low as mine. So I got out the shovel (AGAIN) and starting in to removing some of the snow. The snow was weird. On top was a gray layer of rain. Below that was a pinkish orange layer about an inch thick and below that was another three inches of pure white snow. I thought I was seeing things. Why was I shoveling snow that was multicolored? I took my glasses off and looked again. The snow was still striped with a pinkish/orange layer in the middle. I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded shoveling. I shoveled for an hour. That was my workout for the day. I went back into the house. When I got the text message that my guests were soon to arrive I went outside again. I stood by the mailbox. When the black car with Florida license plates arrived I told her to drive in fast and confidently and pull right into the garage. Yeah, no, that is not how it went. She got stuck by the third hack berry tree.  I got some pieces of wood and carpet and chicken grit and got her unstuck. She got stuck again by my elm tree. I was leaning my back against the trunk and pushing with my legs when she got unstuck and fell on my butt in the mud.  The third time she got stuck she suggested we just leave it here for now and I agreed. We bundled everybody and everything into the house and had a lunch of venison summer sausage, fava beans, crackers, vegies, hummus and fruit. After lunch I took the grandgirls outside to go sledding while their mother could have some time to herself. I got both kids in the blue power ranger sled I had in my garage. I told them to hang on. I pulled the sled forward around the corner of the house.  The oldest grandgirl was laughing.  I turned around to look and I saw the giggling girl in the sled and the younger grandgirl laying in the snow five feet back like a turtle on it's back.  I advised them to let me know when this happened.  I put her back in the sled.  The same thing happened three more times. The younger one fell out and laid there silently in the snow while the older one giggled. Finally I started walking backwards while pulling the sled so I could see what was going on.  I walked backward and we walked through the woods with both kids staying in the sled. We walked past the chicken coop and said hello to the chickens. I checked and found 3 eggs. I showed the eggs to the girls.  The youngest one said, "Kaka."  I agreed that there was kaka on these eggs. I told the girls to stay put while I ran the three eggs into the house. When I returned they were still there. I pulled them to the hill by the compost heap. I pushed them down the hill and they were happy to be sliding. I had to walk down and pick up the youngest girl while the older one pulled the sled back up. They went down the hill at least ten times. The youngest girl took off her mittens and her hat. I stuck them in the crab apple tree for safe keeping. While I did that the oldest girl slid down by herself. We let her do this three times before they both went down together. But now we had a problem because the oldest girl kept wanting to go down by herself. That wasn't fair. Fairness in the minds of children is a very strange concept. We had come to the point of the excursion where fairness was outweighing the enjoyment. I suggested we go inside and make cookies. Well, they were all for that. We went inside and we made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from scratch using the eggs we had just collected. Children are so much fun but by the time I went to bed that night I was completely and utterly exhausted. I had learned that the snow was multi-colored because of a dust storm in Texas.

Aprils Fool

This book by Jess Lourey is the last in a series of mysteries set in Battle Lake, Minnesota. I didn't even think about the name until someone at work laughed and said, "You are reading April Fools on April Fools Day." The author does a great job describing the city of Battle Lake and the interesting people who live there.  Because it is a mystery, however, there is crime and violence and attempted murder which is not my cup of tea.  I liked the writing and I liked the book but I did not like the violence.  I finished this book on Monday and Tuesday morning, right before the alarm went off, I had a bad dream that a man was in my bedroom and pointed a gun at my abdomen. That is a terrible way to wake up.

H is for Hawk

I listened to Helen Macdonald read her book, H Is For Hawk, to me on CD's over the past week. Helen is a falconer.  Even though her hawk is a goshawk, she is still considered a falconers because falconers hunt with birds of prey. Helen trained Mabel, a goshawk, how to hunt for rabbits and pheasants. Training a goshawk is no easy task as goshawks are temperamental and aloof. The story of the relationship between Helen and Mabel is fascinating.  Being a falconer takes up huge amounts of time and energy and expense. Building trust with a hawk is time consuming and it takes a vast amount of problem solving to get it done. I admire falconers but I know I do not have the commitment it would take. This was a very interesting and informative book.

FOY

On my excursions and errands of the past few days I have seen a good number of FOYs (first of the year) bird sightings.  Yesterday, on Moore Lake in Fridley I was so happy to see a pair of loons; so happy in fact I yodeled like a loon in my car. Later, at Vadnais Lake I saw blue winged teal, a great white egret, and gadwall ducks.  I am pretty sure I saw a pied billed grebe there too. A man I talked to (because he had binoculars around his  neck) said he spied a flock of thirty white pelicans flying high overhead as he drove into the park. Later I went to watch the sun sink below the horizon at Keller Lake in Saint Paul. As I walked on the board walk near Highway 36 I saw a huge eagle sitting in a tree. Someone had to point it out to me but still, I saw it. Some men were fishing and I thought I saw a  muskrat swim by. As I passed the men and looked over the railing a huge splash startled me. I had scared a beaver.  The men explained that what I had seen before were actually two baby beavers. Aw, shucks, baby beavers?  What could be cuter than baby beavers?  I got a good look at one of the baby beavers. The sunset was splendid.  And today, as I was walking around Laddie Lake in Blaine a first of the year song sparrow landed on a branch right in front of us and commenced to perform a song sparrow song. I told my walking companion that song sparrow song was performed specifically for us. The little brown bird with the black tie tack on it's chest welcomed us into it's neighborhood with a splendid performance that made us (well, me at least) very welcomed.

A Colorful Afternoon

On Sunday I had the Crayola experience at the Mall of America.  This mall is a place I generally avoid.  The sensory input of this palace to cultural consumerism is overwhelming to me. But the chance to see my grandgirls is more important than my sensory issues. We spent some fun time in this very colorful place. We colored. We made crayon labels with our own words and glued them to crayons to take home. We used tablets to make selfies with colorful eyes and mouths and head pieces. We stepped on footprints in front of a screen so that when we moved the crayon moved too. We walked on a dance floor that had moving puzzle pieces. We played on playground equipment for at least an hour. Luckily the adults were too big to fit on this equipment so we had to wait on benches.  I got tired just watching the kids exercising. They had a huge lightbright board that even I had fun playing with. The lightbright bulbs were an inch in diameter and about five inches long. We melted crayons onto a spinning piece of paper. We played with playdough and cut it into shapes with cookie cutters and kitchen utensils. We did not do every activity offered but we got most of them accomplished. The girls had fun. I recovered from my sensory overload on the drive home.

Not Every Day Goes According To Plan

Yesterday I was in a hurry to get to my mushroom class and I could not find my car keys.  I keep my keys with my wallet. I cannot leave even though I have another set of car keys. Normally I keep them in the same place but not on this day. I am walking around the house retracing my steps from Friday night for the third time.  As I walk by the kitchen table a glass bottle of extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil leaps off the top of my refrigerator and smashes itself on the counter top next to the microwave.  Extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil sprays all over the kitchen. Glass shards fly like sharp missiles between the fridge and the cabinet and as far south as the door to the deck.  I stand there in disbelief. This is the bottle of extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil that I bought back in January at the Auchan grocery store in the shopping mall in Catania, Italy. I spent three Euros on this bottle of extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil.  I wrapped the extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil in bubble wrap. I packed it in my suitcase. I brought it home on a January night when the air temperature was 33 degrees below zero. I never even got to open this bottle of extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil. Well, the bottle is open now. My mind can't accept that this just happened. I walk away.  I find my keys and leave the house knowing extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil is dripping everywhere and I have a big mess to face when I get home.  I try not to think about it. When I do get home I don't go in the kitchen right away. I research how to clean up olive oil. Turns out you need paper towels. strong dish detergent and a lot of scrubbing.  I place my Tina Turner CD on the player and turn her up very loud. I have to move the refrigerator and the stove out to clean up this mess  By the time Tina is done singing I am not finished mopping up the extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil. I still have another 15 minutes of work to do. As I move the refrigerator back into place a bottle of vitamins jumps off and hits me on my head.  The cap magically opens and 40 vitamins are strewn all over the floor. I think there are still shards of glass on the floor so I throw the vitamins out.  I apply duct tape to my slippers so the sticky part is on the outside and I step over every single part of my kitchen floor. I hope I got all the glass up. I hope I got all the extra virgin, unfiltered Sicilian olive oil up. What else can I say? Not every day goes according to plan.

Shiitake!

Today I went to a class on mushrooms that I had signed up for months ago.  I could not find my car keys when it was time to leave. In my search for my car keys an accident happened. I couldn't believe my bad luck but more about that tomorrow.  I pretended the accident didn't happen and headed to the Saint Paul campus of the U of M for my class. I read the email about parking on the forest service road. I didn't read the other email saying not to park on the forest service road. A car was parked at the entrance to the forest service road but I drove around it.  I wasn't supposed to park there but once I was there they told me to stay. Students from the U of M Mycological Society were there to help us as well as women from the Women's Woodland Association. We met in the garden shed right near Cleveland Avenue. Coffee, tea, and assorted treats were waiting for us. Three tents were set up. In one tent we registered and paid our fees. Rain fell during the entire three hour class. I had a good raincoat on and my hiking boots so I was okay but the hot coffee helped quite a bit. Between the tents and the road that lead to the campus buildings was a long and narrow bit of woods on a hill.  On that hill, under the canopy of trees, the students had planted a fungal garden. Inoculated logs lay propped up on other logs or pallets.  In this class we inoculated logs cut on March 10. Fresh cut logs are necessary otherwise there would be other fungus in the wood. Our ironwood logs were cut in southwestern Minnesota. Our first step was to use an angle grinder and bore holes in our log in a diamond pattern. I cut the holes in my log and that wasn't too difficult.  I guess an angle grinder has more torque than an ordinary drill.  After that we inoculated our logs. In the photo above you can see a bucket of shiitake mushroom spawn.  I chose the Bell whether variety because it is a cold weather mushroom spawn.  My other choice was a warm weather mushroom spawn which would fruit in the summer.  Mine should fruit in the spring and fall. What they did not tell us when we signed up for this class is that it will take a full year for the mushrooms to fruit. The earliest shiitake mushroom I will harvest will be in the spring of 2020! No wonder they said the hardest part is the waiting. Using that tool with the wooden handles we picked up the spawn and injected it into the log until the hole was full and the spawn was level with the bark. After that we dripped hot wax into each hole to seal it shut.  I was given a metal tag and a nail.  With the nail I scratched the species of Shiitake into the tag and nailed it into the log. When I got home I took the log out of the trunk and set it upright in a shady spot of my yard.  I hope I don't forget about it.  I also paid five dollars for a jar of oyster mushroom spawn.  Oyster mushrooms are a native species and are not nearly as fussy as shiitake mushrooms. I can deal with the oyster mushroom spawn another day. Whether or not I get any mushrooms out of this day I will come out ahead because I met a group of interesting people, learned some things, laughed and had some fun. By the time I got into my car at noon the rain had curled my hair so tight I scared myself when I looked into the rear view mirror. I was happy to get out of that forest service road without getting stuck in the mud.  Who knows?  I might join the mycologists myself someday.

A Friend Migrates Home

An old friend reappeared in my life today. I got home from work. As I took my mail out of my mailbox my old friend greeted me from the highest branches of a tree. Now that my friend is back I expect to hear it calling almost every day. Those red shouldered hawks - they like to talk and they like to talk all the time.

Spring Chorus

Yesterday during my lunch time walk I heard the chorus frogs calling for the first time this year.  The pond is between my building and the sound wall for the freeway.  Mountains of snow and debris have been bulldozed onto this pond over the winter. The water is not open yet the chorus frogs are in there singing their love songs.  Music to my ears! I miss doing the frog and toad survey. I had hoped the state would get it going again but it doesn't look that way.

The Alice Network

One of the people in my book club suggested we read The Alice Network by Kate Quinn but we chose another one.  I was intrigued by the one paragraph description of the story so I borrowed this one from the library. I am so grateful I nabbed this book because it was a mesmerizing drama. Both of the main characters are women. One is Eve who was a spy in World War One. The other is Charlie, a college student who is good at math but in trouble because she is pregnant and unmarried. When Eve and Charlie meet the dislike between the two women is passionate and mutual. Little do they know how much of their lives will intertwine.  The author did a great job describing the characters and the scenery. The conclusion is climatic. This was a great book to read.

April Fool

As old as I am I remain gullible.  I totally fell for the story of the wooly mammoth being stolen from the Bell Museum yesterday. To top it off I had plans to take my granddaughters there and was mourning the loss of the wooly mammoth big time.