The Things They Carried

 Tim O'Brien is the author of The Things They Carried. This book is a collection of short stories about a platoon of soldiers in the Vietnam war. The author was a soldier in the 23rd Infantry. I knew he had to be a soldier. His writing makes it obvious that he was in Vietnam. Just his descriptions of the smells were enough to convince me this was based on reality. The author was born in 1946 in Austin, Minnesota. One of his main characters gets drafted the same month as he graduated from college. One day in September while working at an outdoor job he walks off the job and drives to the border between Minnesota and Canada. He is considering dodging the draft. He ends up at a resort on the border. An elderly man owns the resort. He sees the young man and offers him a cabin, some food, and the opportunity to do some chores. The young man ends up staying ten days at the resort splitting wood, painting cabins, refinishing boats and talking with the old man. On the tenth day the old man takes him fishing. As the boat goes deep into Canadian territory, the potential draft dodger thinks about swimming to the Canadian shore. He ends up driving back home and joining the Army. I enjoyed the story. I now realize that the older I get the more I realize how big a role the country of Vietnam shaped my upbringing.

Screaming Wood Frogs

On display at the Crow's Nest.

 In March I was doing some spring cleaning. I came across the written records of the previous frog and toad surveys a sibling and I (plus numerous assistants) completed in the area around Kroschel, Minnesota. I recycled the papers feeling disappointed in the state of Minnesota for not bothering to care about an indicator species like a frog or a toad. Since frogs and toads spend much time in water, they will tell us when pollution gets bad. But Minnesota doesn't care about that I thought to myself. I started exploring available frog and toad surveys in Wisconsin. Three days later I get an email from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources saying they are restarting the frog and toad surveys. I am not narcissistic. The state probably had this in the works and they weren't responding to my computer search of routes in Wisconsin. Anyway, I signed right up and volunteered to test out the new phone app. I downloaded the app on my phone and tried running routes here in Duluth as a test. I got the app to work. I had a map of our route on my phone. Cold weather delayed us by 2 weeks. A  minimum temperature of 42 is necessary to run the first route. I left my house yesterday about 5:30 p.m. The temperature here was 38 and the sky was foggy. I had to drive slower than the speed limit over Thompson hill because fog reduced my visibility. As I approached the Crow's Nest in Mora the temperature was 46 and the western edge of the sky was clear so I could watch the sunset. We set off about 8:30 p.m. We heard spring peepers, Boreal chorus frogs and wood frogs at the first stop. The moon was not visible. The wind was slight. By 10 p.m. we were at our last stop. The wind had picked up and the temperature was below 40. We heard spring peepers and chorus frogs. But the wood frogs were screaming. Wood frogs only call 2 weeks of the year and they were screaming. I have never heard so many wood frogs before. Male wood frogs were screaming about love and lust. My phone app worked but I wasn't sure so it would I also wrote the details on paper. I think next time I can forgo the paper. We also heard snipe, red winged blackbirds and woodcock. At the fourth stop, on the corner by the very tall fence, we saw 12 turkeys roosting in the aspen trees. Turkeys are loud when they fly from one tree to another. We also saw at least 50 thin deer munching on the new green leaves in the fields. We had a nature filled night on our favorite frogging grounds but the best part was the screaming wood frogs.

Flying Solo

 Linda Holmes is the author of Flying Solo, a fictional novel set in Maine. In this story Great Aunt Dot has died. Niece Laurie decides she will leave her home in Seattle to empty Dot's house and all of her many, many belongings. Dot died at age 90 after traveling the world and bringing home trinkets and treasures. Dot has way too many books and an entire closet of Polaroid photos. Some items are kept for certain family members but things must be handled by Laurie. Laurie finds important letters used as book marks. She finds a carved wooden wood duck at the bottom of the cedar chest. Laurie wants to get to the bottom of why Aunt Dot kept this duck in this cedar chest. The whole story takes place over a month in Maine. Soon Laurie will head back to her house and her life in Seattle. In the process of handling Dot's estate, Laurie comes to know and love her aunt even more than she did before. This story is not literature but it was a pleasant distraction to read it.

Vernal Ponds

Vernal ponds appear to be everywhere around here. Tonight I went to a training on monitoring a vernal pool at the Hartley Nature Center which is a ten minute drive from my house. I was one of 20 people in attendance. Vernal pools are bodies of water less than an acre in size that are wet in the spring and dry in the fall. Vernal pools are full of baby insects that live here because they are safe from being eaten by fish. Some are eaten by birds. Fairy shrimp, bright orange pool creatures, live only in vernal pools. They lay their eggs that sink to the bottom of the pond. The eggs need a dry season in order to hatch the following spring. Some fairy shrimp eggs are eaten by migratory birds like warblers. Later the eggs pass through the digestive system of the migratory bird. If the eggs is dropped in a place that becomes a vernal pool in the spring, they can hatch in the new pool. Wow, such resilience!

I volunteered to monitor two pools at Hartley and to check for fairy shrimp, mosquito larvae, and other creatures. We have to note if there is any sphagnum moss in the area. Hartley has no sphagnum moss.

 ,

We had to walk ten minutes uphill to get to this vernal pool that is loaded with wood frogs and fairy shrimp. The fairy shrimp are just now hatching. The wood frogs haven't started calling yet. This was quite the hike for me dressed in my bog boots and frog toggs rain gear. The younger people in the group were just wearing normal shoes and clothes. Whatever, it was raining and I stayed dry.

 

Streams

I went to monitor my streams today. I found the road to Us-Wan-Kan-Be stream closed. Last time I was here I was standing on top of 5 feet of snow and the road was hidden but seemed fine. The spring melt washed out the road just like it did last year. The force of water is something to behold.

The intake pipe on the left is above water. The three pipes to the right are submerged. Water is in such a hurry to get into the pipe that whirlpools are formed.

The Cloquet River is high but not flooding.

Here is the bridge that the deer leaped off.

 

Ruffed Grouse

I took 18 pictures of this ruffed grouse that ran across the road in front of my car around 3 this afternoon. This is the only picture that actually captured the bird. This picture was taken in Grand Lake Township.

 

Rosehip Tea

 Last summer I filled my pockets with wild rose hips as I walked along country roads. I made sure to pick only wild rose hips where I hadn't seen any dogs peeing. Once home I emptied my pockets of the rose hips and set them on a cookie sheet in my den. I covered the rose hips with a clean dish towel. I used some of the rose hips to infuse into coconut oil for my beauty routine. I used some rosehips with apple cider vinegar and honey to make a medicinal dressing for salads. I have 3 cups of dried rose hips in my pantry. Today I used a tablespoon of rose hips in a tight mesh bag inside a tea pot. I poured two cups of scalding water over the rose hips. I   allowed the tea to steep for five minutes. I added a tiny bit of honey and now I am drinking the tea which tastes pretty good.

Between Earth And Sky

Set mostly in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Between Earth And Sky is a historical fiction novel set in the 1850's. The story is based on a true account of a Native American man who attended the brutal boarding school where he was robbed of his culture and language. Later, at Wounded Knee, he murdered another soldier. His motive was that after boarding school he did not fit in with the other natives and he did not fit in with the white people. He felt that if he murdered a white soldier, he would regain the esteem of the people in his tribe. The story is told from the point of view of Alma. Alma is white. Her father started the school and hired the staff to work at the school. Her mother, a very critical woman, is not happy living with the heathens. Many of the students are the same age as Alma and there is no one else to play with so she makes friends. At first she believes the philosophy of her father in regard to helping the Native children. Alma travels to Fort Snelling with her husband who is a lawyer in Philadelphia. Alma heard one of her friends from the school was on trial for murdering a federal agent. She wants to help him so that he is not condemned to death. Alma travels to the White Earth reservation to investigate. She talks with her former friends at the school. Although they keep telling Alma she is not being helpful she doesn't believe them. The slow awakening in Alma's mind to the damage inflicted on the students of the school was fascinating to read. Turns out I have read one other book by Amanda Skenandore called The Undertaker's Assistant and I really liked that book too.

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer

 I listened to a novella by one of my favorite authors, Frederik Bachman. And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer is the story of a grandfather suffering from dementia and his relationships with his son and his grandson. Grandfather calls the grandson Noah Noah. He takes him fishing. He encourages his math skills. Grandfather was very interested in math and so is Noah Noah. One day Grandfather takes Noah Noah 0ut in the bay in the fishing boat even though he is not supposed to do that anymore. Noah Noah is at the hospital with Grandfather and he is trying to understand if Grandfather is in pain because of the fall in the boat or because of the dementia. This was a truly lovely story about three men navigating the lives and their relationships and I loved every minute of this short book.

The Great Catsby

Little bunny foo foo hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head.

Today I went for a walk near Denfield High School where I have walked many times before. I knew there was a statue on the corner  but I figured it was a pig. Turns out the owners of a feral cat had a statue made to honor all the friends the cat had in this neighborhood.

 

Singing In The Rain

 

Even though it was snowing today, I went to the campus to enjoy a matinee performance of "Singing In The Rain." We seniors got a discount on the tickets and I had a great seat.

Good golly, those college kids can sure dance and sing. The two male leads were great and I could not decide which one was better. The shorter one did a pratfall and laid on his back with his legs like a W. How in the world did he do that? The taller one grabbed his left foot with his right hand and jumped through the circle with his right foot. How did he do that? One of the female leads danced awkwardly and sang in a most disturbing, high pitched Bronx voice that was painful to hear and must have done some damage to her throat. How did she do that? The costumes were lovely. Flapper dresses, headbands with feathers, Zoot suits, spats, bow ties, newsboy hats and elegant long gloves made me envious. Where can I buy a pair of those long gloves? The kids got a standing ovation and now they are doing the same routine tonight. Their performance last Thursday was cancelled due to the power outage and I am not sure if they are going to reschedule. I wondered if they were going to make it rain on stage during the most famous song. Images of rain were projected onto the screen and the dancer leaped into three metal buckets of water with his tap shoes on. For the finale they had 30 people tap dancing together. Bravo!

Happy Earth Day

 

In this flowerpot is the calendula plant I got at the botanical gardens in Houston, Texas. The calendula is surrounded by sweet peas which are growing up the trellis I made out of yard sticks and string. I got the sweet pea seeds at the seed exchange at the public library in Seabrook, Texas. The highest vine grew 2 inches overnight. I put a piece of cloth in a plastic jug and water moves through the cloth from the jug to the soil.

Mother Nature Speaks To Me

 Today I had classes from 11;30 until 4 p.m. at UMD. I left the house about ten a.m. and walked 3 blocks to my bus stop. I heard a fox sparrow and robins and crows. I had time to walk farther but I didn't want to. Rain was falling and the roads and sidewalks were slippery. I stood on the road where the bus stops and waited. Most of the wind was coming from east so I put the east behind me. My face was dry and out of the wind. The bus comes from the west anyway. A postwoman had parked her truck in the bus stop so I stood away from the curb to see around it. I watched her walking around in snow pants and a winter hat and a rain poncho and was grateful to have had an inside job before I retired. I waited about twenty minutes. I keep telling myself I should look at the bus schedule before I leave the house but I don't because I think spring is coming and I won't have to take the bus anymore. Cars were going by and the rain on the road was kicked up by the tires and splashing me so I kept walking back and forth from the sidewalk. Strong gusts of wind blew the rain on the street to the west. I could see waves of rain on the pavement. Sometimes I had to plant my feet wide so I wouldn't get blown over. I got to campus by 10:30. I removed my very wet raincoat and walked the hallways and the stairs for a half hour before I ate my lunch. I went to my classroom. I took my notebook and papers out of my backpack. My backpack is not waterproof. The papers were all wet. The two halves of the pocket folder were separated. I had meant to bring my book to the second class because I was making a presentation but now I was glad I forgot the book. My creative writing class at 11:30 was fun. During the writing class the power went out a few times but the generators kicked in. Then the power went out completely. In class we use microphones that hook up to the speakers in the ceiling. Some people have hearing aids or cochlear implants that interact with those speakers via Bluetooth technology. With the power out we had to forget the microphones and just use our outside voices. Someone said a large tree fell down on a power line. Most of Duluth, from campus on down to the side of Lake Superior was without power. I hoped my laundry I had drying in my spare bedroom would be dry by the time I got home. I had a break between classes. The bathroom was dark. I couldn't refill my water bottle in the water fountain. I had only 3 people in the second class so we decided to start early so we could leave early. Normally we have 4 or 5 in this class but the weather kept a couple people away. We sat by the window so we could see our papers with natural light. We could also see the trees bending in the wind. Sometimes big squares of snow fell by the window. I thought I was seeing doves but it was only snow. Our topic was Beatlemania - a review of the early work by the Fab Four. I remembered the Beatles. I loved the Beatles. I thought they could have chosen a better name than that of an insect but I loved their music. I loved the long bangs. I loved the lyrics. I stood on my Grandma's slanted cellar door playing my badminton racquet like a guitar. I was Paul. My aunt and I sang, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." I loved John, Paul, Ringo and George. I was 8 when they arrived in the United States. I remember the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. The other two ladies were 14 when the Beatles "invaded" our country. An employee of the university came in the room to check on us. At that time the Internet was still working. Staff were checking on the generators to see why they were not functioning. We saw a woman using a walker go by. How was she going to get down the stairs without an elevator? Next a police officer walked by. I heard someone ask, "How are our seniors?" Then I saw a firefighter in full uniform walk by. One lady went to check out the situation. When she came back she said the campus was closing because the situation wasn't safe. So we packed up to leave. One lady's husband is a professor here so she was waiting for him. The other lady lives in Wisconsin. She has to drive over that high bridge that links Duluth and Superior. She offered me a ride home. I accepted. We walked by the campus book store. The store was closed because of the power outage. Many students were milling about waiting for buses. My driver had a nice orange Toyota SUV that handled the road well. My road and my side road are so full of deep, deep potholes so I had her drop me off on the busy street and I walked the rest of the way. Mud from the potholes had splashed out of the pothole and into the yard, across the sidewalk, and three feet into the lawn past the sidewalk. I was happy no one passed by as I walked.  Being wet is bad enough. I didn't want to be muddy too. When I got home I took out the shovel and scraped some of the precipitation off our sidewalk and driveway. I seriously think Mother Nature is telling me to pack up my belongings and move to the beach.

11.416667 Feet

 

Duluth, MN Area

Snowfall records for the Duluth Area go back to 1885, or about 137 full seasons of history as of the 2022-2023 winter. Snowfall observations have been taken at the property now known as the Duluth International Airport since 1941, with various locations closer to Lake Superior before this time period. (More information about Duluth observation history.)

Rank	Season	Amount
1	2022-2023	137.1 (As of 7AM April 20)
2	1995-1996	135.4
3	1949-1950	131.8
4	2013-2014	131.0
5	2012-2013	129.4
6	1996-1997	128.2
7	1968-1969	121.0
8	1988-1989	119.1
9	1970-1971	116.9
10	1964-1965	110.9
11	1993-1994	110.4
12	2003-2004	109.9

Helping With English

 On Tuesday night I did something that I have thought about doing for 20 years. This activity is a bit out of my comfort zone but that is good, right? To get out of your comfort zone can be good. I volunteered to help a ESL teacher with students in a GED class. We had the teacher, two volunteers, and three students. All the students were adult women. One from Turkey, one from Ecuador, and one was from Thailand. We read a beginning reader newspaper about a city in northern India, near the Himalayan mountains, that is sinking into the ground. The city is built on stones. The mayor of this town wants to add a wide road, a railway system, and a city water system. We also did worksheets on helper dogs and walk to work day. I had an interesting two hour interchange and the time flew by. I worked with the lady from Ecuador. We both have visited the Galapagos Islands so we had that in common. She is a driven woman. With her drive we did all the readings and work sheets the teacher had to offer. I had a good night. I am glad I gave this a try.

Happy National Haiku Day

Last poetry class

He's an excellent reader

His words come alive!

Today was my last poetry class. This class was only 4 weeks long. The teacher is a published poet and he is excellent. He teaches ethics and theology. I can read poetry, especially prose, and think, "Meh." But when he reads the poetry to me, to us, I love poetry. Obviously he enjoys reading poetry aloud. Not all poets like to read their work aloud. Not all poets are good readers. Our class tried to convince him to offer the class again in the fall for the full 8 weeks. Maybe we convinced him. I hope so.

 

The Long Flight Home

 I read The Long Flight Home, a book by Alan Hlad. The book reminded me of that one time my sister and I returned to our Dad's farm from an outing and found a pigeon sitting in the yard looking exhausted. She threw a towel on it, put it in a box with some seed and some water, and proceeded to figure out whose pigeon it was. Her neighbors had pigeons so she knew a little about it. We found the band on the leg and wrote down the numbers. We called the veterinarian in Parkers Prairie and explained the situation. We put the bird in the box in the dark barn for the night. The next day a guy who knew the owner of the pigeon came to pick it up. The pigeon was way off course. This book is based on some real use of homing pigeons  in 1940 by British pigeon owners. The pigeons had little metal cans tied to their legs so messages from Nazi occupied France could be sent back to England. Each pigeon was put in a box and given a little red parachute before being dropped out of planes. Many pigeons were shot by the Nazi's. Most never returned home. In this story a young man from Maine volunteers to help the RAF. He and his father were crop dusters for the potato fields in Maine and he loves to fly. On his way to volunteer he meets a very angry pilot named Cliff and a woman named Susan. Ollie intervenes when he sees Cliff sexually harass Susan. Cliff has him beat up and thrown in jail. Susan and her grandfather raise pigeons. Before the war started she was studying to be an ornithologist. Susan has a pet pigeon named Duchess that she raised from an egg in a bowl under a desk lamp. Duchess turns out to be a war hero. The story was very interesting. Ollie was a good guy. Cliff was evil but he had moments of empathy now and again.

Any A$$ Can Smoke!

I was looking through my papers when I found this, a postcard mailed to me on January 8, 1981 from Battle Lake, MN. A friend mailed it to me to support my decision to stop smoking tobacco. At the time I was not a vegetarian. I ate turkey on Thanksgiving. I looked at this postcard many, many, many times so maybe this is why I am a vegetarian now. This is one ugly turkey rear. I had my last cigarette in the morning of Xmas eve. I cried as I gathered and washed all the ash trays. I had a round green glass ash tray that I was fond of. I cried as I gathered all my lighters and books of matches. I put all the smoking equipment into a shoe box and put the shoe box in a closet. I figured the stores would be closed Xmas Eve and Xmas day so I had no opportunity to buy more cigarettes. My doctor had told me my chronic ear infections were caused by my pulling toxic fumes into my head via my pie hole. So I quit 42 years, 4 months, 22 days and 12 hours ago. My friend's note on the back of the postcard said congratulations. She said good luck with the cube. The cube was a Rubik's cube to keep my hands busy. No, I never figured out how to operate a Rubik's cube. I also had a brass candle snifter that I held and played with. Addiction is real. Quitting is difficult. On the day I quit I promised myself that if I abstained for a full year I could smoke one cigarette. I did abstain for a full year. On the next Xmas Eve I had a relative light a cigarette for me and I held it and tapped the ashes into an ashtray. I was afraid to bring it to my lips. I knew I would have to quit all over again and I didn't want to go through that again. Urges to smoke came frequently and persisted for over a decade. The strongest urges came to me while I was driving and saw someone smoking outside. I ended up gaining 70 pounds. Sometimes, as I walked past people who were smoking outside, I would inhale the secondary smoke on purpose. Coffee breaks at work weren't as much fun anymore. Going outside with the other smokers meant great conversations. For years I had dreams that I started smoking again and I would wake up in the morning feeling so guilty and sad. The crazy thing about all this is that I didn't like smoking at first. Newport menthol cigarettes tasted terrible. I wish I had never started smoking. Any a$$ can smoke. I made a good decision to quit.

 

The Assassination Vacation

My former neighbors recommended a book to me. They were sure that I would like it. I did like The Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. The audio book has other voices reading the parts including Conan O'Brian, Stephen King, and Jon Stewart. The author is a history buff and on her vacation she visits museums and plaques and locations of presidential assassinations and assassination attempts. Right away, in the first couple of pages, she starts talking about Squeaky Fromme who attempted to shoot Gerald Ford. This lady is a talented writer with a dry sense of humor. She remembers details like how Ann Landers published an article about the similarities between Lincoln's assassination and JFK's assassination. Both of their wives witnessed the event, both of their names have 7 letters, both of their assassin's names had 15 letters, Lincoln was elected in 1860 and JFK in 1960. I remember hearing about that too. One thing I didn't know was that the Lincoln Memorial was very controversial. Lincoln grew up on the prairie. At the time his memorial was being designed Frank Lloyd Wright was a prominent American architect. Why is Lincoln's memorial done in a Grecian style? Greece is not the US of A. I can see why his memorial was controversial. After his memorial was built the reflection pool was installed. The sun reflected off the pool and up into Lincoln's face and made him look absolutely terrifying. The architect was very upset. After a few years another light was added above Lincoln's head to combat the sun reflecting off the pond. Full disclosure, here is a picture of my father's second cousin's daughter visiting my Uncle's farm. Her name was Lynette and she was 4 years older than me. I don't remember ever meeting her but we are related.

Later in life Lynette changed her name to Squeaky Fromme. I am related to a failed assassin.

Bumble Bees and Basswood Trees

Tonight i went to a lecture about bees and basswood trees. Basswood are also known as linden trees. I like basswood trees. I also like eating new basswood leaves in the early spring when they are still small and bright green. They are delicious. Anyway people have noticed that bumble bees sometimes die below flowering basswood trees. This was noted in 1908 and continues to this day. Studies haven't been able to figure out why bumble bees die under basswood trees. We have learned why some bee species are declining but this connection with basswood trees remains a mystery.

 

Melting Snow

Today the temperature soared into the 70's. Snow melted and the liquid water rushed downhill. Here is a picture of Chester Creek this morning at 8 a.m. as I walked to school to attend my classes on traveling in Turkey and International Folk Dance.

I know this creek is stocked with trout. I think about the times last summer that I took water out of this creek to grow E-Coli. Today it would have been much easier to grab a sample.

 

"Don't Do It!"

Today I monitored the Cloquet river on this bridge in Fredinburg. I was trying to write down my information but I could not find my pen. I ended up using a magic marker. I was busy concentrating when I looked up to see a lot of action on the bridge. Two trucks were stopped behind me. Three does were on the bridge panicking. I watched in amazement. Then I got out of my car hoping to scare the deer down the right lane to the far shore. A man behind me got out of his truck and told the woman in the white Prius to drive forward with the truck behind her beside her. Mansplainer. The woman yelled she was trying to prevent them from jumping off the bridge. I watched in amazement as one doe leaped over the cement bridge ledge. "Don't do it!" I yelled at a deer who cannot understand English. Her hips caught on the cement and she kicked off with her left leg and flew through the air twenty feet before splashing into the Cloquet River. In case you are wondering, the water was very clear and 50 degrees F. The other two deer walked past me on the left to get to shore. The woman in the Prius checked by getting out of her car and peering down. The deer survived the fall and was swimming to shore. Wow. Suddenly I remembered my mother asking questions like, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too? If your friends ate chicken shiite, would you eat chicken shiite too?" Now I know the answer. If my friends jumped off a bridge, I would take the road.

 

Your Plane Is In The Hangar

Yesterday the flight from Harrisburg, PA to Chicago, IL went off without a hitch. I checked my roller bag at the door of the plane and put my back pack in the overhead bin leaving me with plenty of leg room. I finished my book on my phone and could not download anymore while in the air so I just looked out the window at Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Once in Chicago it was a mile hike to the next gate but that went fine. We were supposed to board the plane at 8:10 p.m. but there was no plane to board. At 8:15 a plane was towed to our gate only to be towed away to another gate. We waited. I stook and waited because I don't like to sit so long. This morning my daughter-in-law gave me a 30 minute lesson on how to do full range of motion on all my joints and I was feeling pretty good as far as my joints went. At 8:45 I ate an orange because I was bored. We were told that our plane was coming from a hangar. So we weren't waiting for a plane to unload and be cleaned. We were waiting for a plane to be towed to us from a plane garage. That knowledge wasn't so helpful. A little bit after 9 a plane was towed to our gate. Even the two pilots and one flight attendant were happy to see it arrive. I checked my roller bag at the door of the plane and put my backpack in the overhead bin. The plane was entirely full with the exception of one empty seat - the empty seat next to my seat. Score! My book I downloaded at the airport wouldn't show on my phone so I stared out the window. This is a picture of Chicago with Lake Michigan across the top. We flew along Lake Michigan to Green Bay and then headed across the beautiful state of Wisconsin. I ate a free bag of pretzels. I read an article about airplane travel affecting your sense of taste. The air in the airplane is so dry that you can't taste many foods. The air is part of the reason airline food tastes so bland. The article recommended eating and drinking savory foods. I don't usually drink tomato juice but I always get it on a flight. I used Google maps to watch the plane progress over streets and streams. I know I shouldn't do that but it was fun to watch my speedy progress. We arrived in Duluth before 11 p.m. All four of the landings I had on this short trip were excellent. I experienced no bouncing or skipping. Are pilots more talented or are they using artificial intelligence to do the landing? I really don't know.  I got my bag and rolled out of there. I went across the street, past the parking ramp to the open lot near the exit. I had parked my car on top of a pile of snow and now my car was lowered to the pavement. I paid $52 to leave. As I left the airport road I came across a huge puddle in the road. I watched the car in front of me make a huge splash so I drove around the puddle. I was home in 10 minutes.

 

Fun While It Lasted

Today we went to a local nature center upstream from Offspring #1's house. A five minute drive and we were there. We walked along the river (which is to the left in this photo and out of sight) until we came to the blind that the scouts built so people could observe the eagle nest. I couldn't see the nest. Perhaps the young leaves on the trees obscured it. Spring is farther ahead here. Daffodils are drying up and  tulips are beautiful. We saw a couple eagles flying, a dozen vultures, a red tailed hawk, song sparrows, field sparrows, tree swallows, Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees, blue jays, robins and northern cardinals. Grandgirl wants to know if the swallows would swallow a person and that is why they are called swallows. Good question and one that I have never thought of before.

We saw a large snapping turtle under the water and these smaller turtles on a log. We saw tadpoles and frogs too.

We also saw a groggy paper wasp hanging out on an informational placard. Spring break is over. Both the girls and myself are headed back to classes. I had fun while it lasted.

 

Hidden Eggs

 

Conodoguinet Creek

I don't remember any school mascots at my elementary schools. The mascot where my grand girls attend is a dragon. Both girls love dragons so that works.

Behind their house winds the Conodoguinet Creek. Today we saw deer, hooded mergansers, Canadian geese, Northern Cardinals, American Robins, Caroline chickadees, house finches and Juncos hanging out. If I had brought my muck boots it would have been fun to dip into the stream and look for aquatic species. Instead I kept my shoes mostly clean and we died eggs and went for a walk.

 

Sunset Over Lake Erie

I did not keep my phone on airplane mode on the flight from Chicago to Pennsylvania .

That is how I knew I was flying over Lake Erie as the sun set in the west behind me.

 

I Saw My House From Above

My flight left the James Oberstar airport at 11:30 this morning. I watched spellbound out the window as the plane followed Chester Creek down to the shore. I could actually see my house from the sky!

 

The Blind Assassin

In a weird twist of fate I am currently reading two books and both books have the word assassin in the title. I finished Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin first. Written in 200, this book is historical fiction set in Toronto and southern Ontario. The story starts out when Iris and her sister, Laura, are children. Their mother dies after a still born birth and the girls are left alone with their father and the house keeper, Reenie. Reenie is like a mother to the two girls. Their father, a reluctant heir to a button factory, descents into despair and alcoholism. At her father's request Iris marries Richard, a businessman from Toronto. Her father implies this marriage will save the family from ruin. As it turns out, marrying  Richard does not help the family. Richard is manipulative and condescending and a philanderer and a politician. This book is about the strained relationship between Iris and Laura. During the telling of the tale, Atwood brings in historical events such as world wars and the communist scare. The story is well-written and interesting.

Echo Meter Touch 2

 Wouldn't it be fun to know who is flying above you when you are out walking in the dark?  I kinda want to buy one of these now.

Earthsea

 Ursula LeGuin is the author of Earthsea, a young adult fantasy novel chosen by my book club in Duluth. Ursula was a fan of J. R. Tokien. She writes about a magician/wizard who is based on her interpretation of a young Gandalf. I wasn't that impressed with the book. But once I learned in the book club that the author changed her style in the subsequent 4 books in the series. Women took a lead role. Women's magic changed from unimportant to vital. I am not sure I am going to finish the series but I can see how a young adult would like a series like this one.

Manoomin

 Last night I attended an event at the U of M medical school entitled, "Why Should Minnesotans Care About Sulfate" The sponsor was the Water Legacy Project. Speakers included tribal elders, physicians, research scientists and the moderator, Paula Macabee. I did not know that wild rice is a "superfood." I am glad I like and ate some wild rice this week. I think the Water Legacy is a great group. I believe they are single handedly stopping the mining companies from mining for copper in this water rich environment. Mining for copper in the dry hills in Chile makes a lot more sense because it is the water that turns sulfate into poisonous sulfite. I didn't know that wild rice was once common throughout the eastern half of our nation until the Europeans came and altered the hydrology of the land. Now wild rice exists only in Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan. Wild rice is quite common in Canada.

Physics

About a third of the class on Albert Einstein showed up today because, yet again, we are having a blizzard. This was my view from the city bus window as it pulled away from the curb at 4:25 p.m. I was happy to be   on a bus today because many cars are sideways on the road. I had my warmest winter boots, leggings, a wool skirt to my ankles, a fleece jacket under a long wool coat, my warmest mittens, wool hat, and two scarves plus a face mask. I had all this on while on the bus. I watched a college student get off the stop ahead of mine. She was wearing tennis shoes, had bare ankles, leggings, a winter coat, and no  hat and no mittens. I used to be like her but not anymore. By the way, physics is hard. Some of the information went over my head like a snow flake in a blizzard. Next week we are studying the theory of relativity so I think that session might be more difficult than this one. Classes tomorrow are cancelled. No international folk dance for me unless I do it at home.

 

Music And Memory

 Today I attended a lecture on Music and Memory. The lecture was given by two volunteers of the Victory Chorus. This choral group goes to adult day programs, memory care units and other long term health facilities to sing songs. The group started in 2019 and was set back by the pandemic. They did some concerts outside some facilities when the weather was nice and are just now getting back to doing concerts in person. The goal is to give people with cognitive dysfunction some musical stimulation while also giving their caregivers a break. The results are remarkable. One fellow, a former military leader, is gregarious at the concerts. He sings along and talks to everybody. At the end of the hour he flirts with his wife. His wife reports that all of the other hours of the week he is basically silent and coloring in adult coloring books. Originally the Victory Chorus started singing songs from the 1940's and 50's. Now they have found that most of the people with memory issues prefer music from the 1960's and 1970's. I think it's crazy interesting how music affects our brains. I worked with one woman with severe cognitive issues. She would have spells of mania where she could not sit down or could not stop screaming. The only way to calm her down was to take her outside for a walk and to sing songs like take me out to the ball game or how much is that doggie in the window or kumbaya or any patriotic song or any song by John Denver. I got pretty tired of John Denver but I did appreciate his ability to calm this woman from screaming into singing. Unlike me, she had perfect pitch. And she had a compulsion to finish a line. So if I sang, "How much is that doggie?" She would have to finish, "In the window?" One fellow attending the lecture said he liked to sing but no one liked to hear him sing. He was told that if he was in a group of 7 performers, that would be an issue. If he was in a group of 70 performers, his singing would be fine.

Moe

 Who is the best dog? Tis Moe. Uphill and down, Mow loved to go. We threw every green tennis ball. Who went and got them? It was Moe.

Warm in the sun, Mow waits for a call. Let's go outside, you can catch the ball. Get up off the floor, Mow shakes his fur. Anxious to go, Moe comes down the hall.

Moe is a purebred, he's not a cur. Much arthritis he had to endure. A family member, he was great. The best dog in Roseville, that's for sure.

Ready to hike, Moe is top rate. Janet's dog first, loved pet his fate. Always on his best behavior, meet Janet up there, don't be late!

Ruby (not Moe).

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Trumpeter Swans Foraging

Here is a view looking upstream from the bridge over the Cloquet River in Fredenburg.

Here is the view of the far bank downstream. Grassy islands occur on both sides of this bridge. Wait, what are those two lumps of snow beyond the island?

That is not snow. Those are Trumpeter swans foraging for food!

 

Eat A Peach

 Peaches are my favorite fruit and that is why I chose Eat A Peach by David Chang and Ulla Gabe to listen to while driving. This memoir is about David who worked in the restaurant business in New York and California. He has had many successes and failures. He is only in his early 40's. Did I like the book? Not really because David is belligerent, angry, pompous and sort of a jerk sometimes. Okay, he goes to a psychiatrist and he takes medication but is that any excuse for calling people a$$holes in print?

News From Voyager's Wolf Project

 Big news! Last summer we documented the FIRST grizzly bear seen in Minnesota since the 1800’s when grizzly bears were eradicated from the state! When we first got the images of this bear, we were pretty certain it was a grizzly but we wanted certainty before sharing.

So, we went out and collected scats for genetics in late summer in an effort to confirm. We collected 137 bear scats in the area where these images were captured. Turns out, 9 were from a grizzly bear…the others just from black bears.

The bear is a female (based on genetics) and what was interesting is that in one set of images, a male black bear was following the female and appeared to be courting her. We cannot confirm the pair mated but we think it is very likely because male bears always get what they want and they have an insatiable “appetite".

Thus, we suspect this female has likely given birth to hybrid cubs this winter. Unfortunately, though, efforts are already underway to find this female and euthanize the cubs because grizzly bears are federally endangered and hybrids are extremely detrimental to conservation efforts.

We will try to keep everyone updated on what happens in this regard. The primary bear biologist in charge of this effort, Dr. Chitts N. Jiggels, said they will use both helicopter searches and ground based approaches to locate the female and her cubs.

Yet, the story of this female gets even more interesting. Turns out, this grizzly bear is from populations on the coasts of British Columbia meaning she traveled 1,500-2,000 miles to reach Minnesota. But she did not make the journey alone.

Instead, we got fuzzy images of another species that was once present in Minnesota traveling with this female grizzly (check out the images above!). Ironically, this other species is often confused with a grizzly because of the similarities in their size as well as fur color/texture.

But we were able to confirm with genetics that this other animal was definitely not another grizzly bear. Instead, it was clearly a Homo sasquatchis and in some sense it is not surprising the pair was traveling together.

The coastal forests of western North America are one of the last strongholds for remnant H. sasquatchis populations and most sightings outside of this area are dispersing individuals from this area.

Plus, biologists have known for seemingly forever that grizzly bears and H. sasquatchis travel together and can have a “friends with benefits” sort of relationship...but not in a sexual way.

Rather, when traveling together, H. sasquatichis often procure food for grizzly bears and in turn, grizzly bears let H. sasquatchis spoon them at night for some much needed social interaction.

Dr. Whors Manoor, the famed ethologist, noted in 1951: "Interestingly, I have only seen H. sasquatchis be the big spoon…never the little spoon.”. Several decades of research since has confirmed Dr. Manoor’s early observations: H. sasquatchis are never the little spoon.

Intriguingly, this synergistic relationship between these two apex predators has seeped into human cultures, ideas, and behavior

Anthropologist Dr. Æprelle Won put it this way: "Humanity has created the “Teddy bear” which young Homo sapiens across the world hold tight as they fall asleep…where do you think this came from? It is obvious we are trying to mimic the behavior of our more primitive cousins”.

Now, we are just wolf biologists and are not experts on H. sasquatchis per se. However, Occam’s razor would suggest the simplest explanation is the most likely…and this clearly is the simplest explanation. Not to mention, Drs. Manoor and Won are experts in their fields and we have no reason to doubt their expertise.

Anyway, this is now the 4th year we have documented a H. sasquatchis in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. The sightings seem to be very consistent and we expect they will likely continue for the foreseeable future. (Copied from Voyager's Wolf Project FB page).