Shunning Sarah

Julie Kramer wrote Shunning Sarah which is a story set in Minnesota.  Some of the action takes place in the Twin Cities where Riley Spartz, a television news reporter, works for a local channel.  Her parents live in southwestern Minnesota and she goes there for news stories.  A boy gets trapped in a sinkhole in Amish country and the story snowballs from there.  I thought the book was interesting because she describes some places I have been to such as the Quarter Quarter restaurant.  I was disappointed that she didn't really describe the beauty of south western Minnesota.  I enjoyed the references to Minnesota things like the bear center in Ely.  Her character development was better than the conversations which seemed cliche at times.  The story went fast but the writing was light; almost chick lit.

3-1=2

On Saturday morning I checked on my chickens before I went kayaking.  I gave them fresh water and a handful on sunflower seeds for a treat.  My three chickens gobbled up the seeds eagerly.  In the afternoon I came back to look for eggs and offer more fresh water.  Two chickens were out hoping for more sunflower seeds.  I opened the coop to check on the third chicken and she lay dead on the floor with her lower (nictating) eyelids closed.  Oh, such a sad discovery.  I have no idea why she died.  She seemed healthy this morning.  Is a natural death better than being preyed upon by a red fox?  I really hope she didn't die egg bound because that sounds like a perfectly horrible way to die.  I disposed of her body without a post-mortem or even a close inspection.  I'm curious but not curious enough to outweigh the ick factor it takes to examine a chicken carcass. 

Munsinger Gardens

A friend and I wanted to see Munsinger Gardens.  "I know the way," I said, "Follow me."

We traveled up the west side of the Mississippi through Champlin, Dayton, Otsego, Monticello, Clear Lake, Saint Augustine to St. Cloud.

We stopped at Panera for lunch and went to the gardens which were beautiful and relaxing.

Another friend joined us and the three of us admired the flowers.

The colors and shapes are intriguing.

A cheeky chipmunk was chowing down on these tall pink flowers.  We ate one too.  They tasted sweet.

After visiting the gardens we headed home.  Our plan was to follow the east side of the Mississippi while riding only a couple of blocks on Highway 10.  "Follow me," I said, "I know the way."

My plan worked well until we got to Becker.  Becker is where things started to go wrong.

I thought we'd hit county road 11 and angle back toward the river.  But County road 11 never came.  Instead I saw a sign that said Benton County.

I wasn't planning to go into Benton County.  These roads are so long and how come there are no signs pointing to towns?

We saw a sign that said Highway 95.  That couldn't be the same 95 that goes through Princeton and Cambridge, could it?  I didn't think so but I was wrong.

Very wrong.  I knew I made a huge mistake when I saw a sign that said Mille Lacs couonty.

Which way is south?  I think we went way too far east.

We planned to take a right on the next major road.

The next major road turned out to be Highway 169.  Where were we?

We were just north of Long Siding (where ever that is.)

So we turned south on 169.  Who likes going 65 mph on a bike?

Not us.  We got off in Princeton - that same 95 we ignored earlier.  We took that to Hwy. 47 and headed south.

A really great trip on a bike involves getting lost and finding our way again.

Sunrise River

East of East Bethel (Easter Bethel?) is the town of Linwood.  And that is where Martin Lake is. A friend took me kayaking on Martin Lake and we went up the west branch of the Sunrise River. 

The sky was so blue it was beyond belief.  We saw a green heron avoiding us.  A bittern, a very reclusive bird, got scared by us and flew up in a tree to look us over.  We saw a comorant, great blue herons, and Canadian geese.  We were surprised how few boats were on this heavily developed lake.  We went up the river until we came to a road.  We found it easy to paddle against the current. The bridge over the river left about 2 feet of space between the water and the roof of the concrete tunnel under the bridge.  I swept cobwebs out of the way to check it out.  If I put my paddle sideways and laid as flat as possible in my kayak it's possible I could have made it through under the bridge by pulling myself along the concrete roof with my hands.  We decided against going under the bridge.

See how the yellow flowers are reflected in the river water?  What an awesome way to spend a Saturday morning.

Bones In The Pool

Earlier this summer I visited the Jeffers petroglyph historic site.  On impulse, I bought some bone beads at the little store inside the building.  Some beads were 10 cents.  Others cost 50 cents. I think I spent two dollars on bone beads and with that I got a free piece of thread.  When I got home I threaded some of the beads.  I couldn't use all the beads because some did not have a hole all the way through.  Once I had it done, what was I going to do with this bone bead piece of jewelry?  I spent the money so I'm going to use the product. I thought it was too odd to wear on my wrist.  With only a knot to open and close it, I wanted to wear it without having to remove it.  So I tied it around my ankle and forgot about it.  One family member asked about it and I explained that it made out of bone beads.  "Human bones?" he asked.  I actually hadn't thought of that.  I'm pretty sure it was not human bone beads. As a vegetarian, I didn't want to think about the donor of these bone beads at length.  I figured that the threads would wear out and I wouldn't wear it long.  Today the threads wore out.  My anklet wore out while I was swimming lap 35.  My mile long goal means 36 laps so I stopped short of a mile to pick up bones off the pool floor.  The threads broke where the water was about 4 feet deep.  And even though I wear ear plugs, I get water in my ear when I dive.  So I tried picking up the bone beads with my toes.  The bigger beads were easy but I don't have monkey toes. The ten cent beads are hard to keep a grasp on.   The pool was crowded when I started swimming but was empty now so I didn't have to worry about others watching me.    I swam the rest of the lap with one fist closed tightly. I think I got all the bones out of the pool.   

Learned Something New Today

I learned that in southern India frogs have evolved a new way to attract a mate because the area is so loud with night sounds that the croaking cannot be heard.  These male frogs dance for their women.  LOL

The Chief Of Police And The Chicken

Sometimes articles in the newspaper are funny without even trying.  I read this article today in the Minneapolis paper and laughed out loud.  Then I tried to stifle my laughter because I was at work.  One coworker was reading the Bible and another was reading the sports page.  Both of them stopped their reading to look at me.  I apologized and said I was reading about crime.  Read this for yourself and see if you don't laugh out loud too: 

 http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/273696571.html
The newspaper article was longer than the online version.  In the newspaper the police chief described how the chicken was running free in the yard when he arrived.  He chased the chicken around the yard but was unable to catch it.  The chicken started to run toward the park where children were playing.  That is when he reached for the shovel.

Chicken death is nothing to joke about but this is funny.  Anyone who has ever tried to catch a chicken on the loose would think this was funny.

On top of that the police chief didn't realize he had beheaded the chicken.  He carried the body away and didn't realize the head was missing?  Makes you wonder how much damage he did to the chicken with the shovel.

Just another case of "truth is stranger than fiction."