The Signal

Ron Carlson wrote The Signal, a story about Mac and Vonnie. Mac and Vonnie were married but have been separated for a year.  Mac is a ranch hand in Wyoming.  He just got out of jail several weeks ago and is trying to straighten up and fly right.  He stopped drinking and partying and ferrying meth from town to town in Wyoming.  Vonnie, his ex, is with another, more responsible guy now and why she decides to go camping with Mac is beyond my comprehension.  They've gone backpacking in the mountains before.  They like to fish in the glacial lakes.  As they start out camping, it's obvious they are both seriously angry with each other.  Their trip is supposed to be four days long.  Each chapter of the book is another day on the trip and there are a total of six chapters.  I thought this was going to be a novel about relationships but it turned out to be a backward murder mystery.  By  backwards, I mean the murder happens at the end.  The book ends really violently and I was surprised and disappointed.  I really don't like to read about that much violence.  Carlson's descriptions of the mountains, the scenery, the wildlife, and the feelings between an estranged man and woman were good though.  I just didn't like the ending.

100th Concert

Offspring #2 and I went to the 100th annual Christmas concert at St. Olaf College in Northfield.  It wasn't the 100th concert for us; only the 4th or 5th time we've been there.  We started out with lunch at a really good Indian restaurant in town.  Later we headed to the Buntrock Hall.  Lutefisk was served in the dining hall and P.H.E W., did that stink.  It's no wonder there were free breath mints in the lady's room.  That was nasty.  The concert was great.  This one was taped and will be broadcast all over the states for alumni and also on PBS during the Christmas season.  If the concert is taped, you can't clap or talk or cough.  To restrain your hands from clapping after a great song can be really difficult but as the concert goes on, it gets easier and easier.   The audience was encouraged to stand and sing along to several songs.  This gave us a chance to stretch.  I could hear the voices of people singing behind me and holy cow, they were good.  The singers on stage were good.  The orchestra was good.  I sat on the side closest to the tuba player and I paid attention to when he played.  Handbells were used for one song.  Steel drums were used for another.  One song featured a harp.  How often do you get to hear a harp?  Not that often for me.  All those healthy young people singing their hearts out - I had a great time.

A Little Something To Kick Start Your Holiday Spirit

Hallelujah Chorus -Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 5th Grade - Quinhagak, Alaska

Project Feederwatch Update

Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker-2, Downy woodpecker-2, American Crow-2, Northern Cardinal-2, Black Capped Chickadee-6, Junco-3, White Breasted Nuthatch-2

Third Time I Went to The MOU Paper Session

Bell Museum of Natural History

Beaver sitting on tail in diorama

Today a sibling and I went (for the third time) to the Minnesota Ornithological Union's paper session.  For the low price of only $4 ($5 at the door) we got 7 hours of education at the Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus.  We're right across the street from the armory.  Each talk lasts anywhere from twenty to sixty minutes.  Caroll Henderson organizes this and he keeps us to a tight schedule; limiting the questions and guiding the discussions.  Many of the talks highlighted how much more we know about birds now that we can put little computers on them that register the sunrise and sunset.  The data on the sun rise and sun sets can pinpoint where the bird is as it migrates back and forth.  Telemetry can tell you where birds rest or nest.  Gold winged warblers, for example, were thought to nest only on forest fringes.  Probably bird watchers can find the figety warblers better on forest fringes because we thought wrong.  They also nest inside forests. Common loons dive 60 meters in the Gulf of Mexico and often rest 6 miles off shore in Lake Michigan.  The day was full of fun facts and knowledge about birds.  We brought our own lunch and sat on the wooden benches outside the beaver diorama.  Inside that diorama is a beaver sitting on it's tail.  I guess I figures beavers would lay their tail the other way when they sat down but I have to admit I haven't seen that many beaver sitting.  Most of my observations of beaver are of them swimming.  Late in the afternoon the speaker was from the DNR and he spoke about sandhill crane hunting.  When Minnesota decided to allow sandhill crane hunting last year, many MOU members were not happy.  We really didn't have a clear picture of how many sandhill cranes we have in the state.  Only the most northwestern corner of the state is open to crane hunting. 900 birds were harvested in that small section of the state.  Minnesota is one of the top five states as far as the number of birds harvested.  The speaker said we usually don't know how many of a species we have when they are hunted and there is no law that says we have to know the number.  Only mallards and Canadian geese have population numbers yet we hunt many other species of ducks.  He said the federal government said Minnesota could hunt cranes so the state allowed it to happen but only in the northwest.  The northwestern cranes travel to Texas.  And Texas has plenty of cranes.  The other state cranes travel to Georgia and Florida.  The cranes that fly to the southeast are not hunted.  I had to admire the speaker because he maintained his poise in a unfriendly crowd. He handled the very pointed and sometimes hostile questions well.  We had a good day.  It was fun to see some people I know and catch up again.  I definitely want to go again next year. 

See Their Worried Faces?

My Newest Tree

A few years ago, maybe 5 or more, I was shopping in the garden section of Home Depot.  I looked at the trees on clearance and there I found a river birch clump for $15.  FIFTEEN DOLLARS!  This was an incredible sale. I've always liked birch trees because of their peeling bark.  As a kid I used to stand next to our paper birches.  I was so tempted to peel the bark.  If my Mom saw me even standing close to the tree she'd yell, "Keep your cotton picking hands off the birch tree!"  She knew I was tempted.  I like river birch even more because they are more disease resistant and the bark is orange (my favorite color).  So I grabbed my river bark birch tree clump and put it in my cart.  When I got to my car, I realized it wasn't going to fit so well into a Honda civic.  I wasn't sure it was going to fit at all.  I stood in the parking lot, scratching my head and thinking about it when a car pulled up.  A woman got out of the car with two men.  She said, "That woman needs help getting her tree into her car."  The two men obediently helped me get the tree into the car.  I planted it right away and I must have picked a good spot because it is thriving and growing taller every year. I think it looks so pretty!  I don't know if this photo does it justice but the bark is a earthy, warm and comforting shade of orange.  I think it will look even prettier against the snow.