Better

 We are both feeling a tad bit better.  It was a rough spell.  We both took it easy again yesterday and should be right as rain in a few days. 

I have been working on painting the Christmas ornaments....I am about 1/3 done. I am watching Call the Midwife while painting. 

 I watched Dancing with the Stars the other night...I wish those men would keep their shirts on every time one of them rips his shirt open to reveal a bald chest while dancing...I feel like barfing.  AND if the Golden Bachelor spends anymore time at the tanning salon he is going to croak from skin cancer.

Far Side

Tired

 It was a busy day and I am tired.  

I spent most of the day at my parents.  Dad was so excited to see me!  He was having a good day...he remembered I was the oldest "kid" and my name! He even recalled where he was when I was born and how when he came home from Korea it was like I knew him as I held my arms out so he could take me. He said that I was what got him through the tough times in Korea. 

Mom and I worked on sorting and marking things in her garage for a garage sale later in the month.

When I got home I had a nap...then helped Far Guy with supper...ham, sweet corn and fresh peaches. After supper I went out to the garage and cleaned up another corner and organized some stuff, filled bird feeders, picked and watered tomatoes.  Felt like I needed to kill something so I grabbed the roundup and went to my other baby brothers shop and killed weeds, and filled my mower with gas. Straightened up the patio...cause we may get a rain storm...probably not but you never know.  

The next County over from us (where my parents live) is a new hot spot for Covid according to the CDC. A little church in the nearest town...the Pastor and his Wife got Covid and exposed the whole congregation. 

Minnesota is offering $100 dollar Visa cards for people who are newly vaccinated.  Apparently they are not being overrun with people to vaccinate.  The anti vaxers are digging in their heels...so sad that they cannot bring themselves to help protect young children who cannot get the vaccine.  Not sure why they think the way they do...I think it is selfish.   We cannot get herd immunity unless it is a good effort...the virus will keep mutating and soon it will be a super virus that there will be no vaccination for.  Well enough of a rant for today. 

Thank you to those of you that got the vaccination...you did your part! 

Far Side   

Old Tool Box Cover

 Far Guy's Dad built a wooden tool box a long time ago.   Far Guy inherited it.  

We were talking one day about how the new /old car may need a few tools in the trunk.   Far Guy said he might finally have a use for the old tool box that we have been carting around for 25 some years.

He cleaned it up ...leaving scratches and paint smudges as part of the character. 

He had an image that was applied to the top cover.   It turned out great! 

I am still working on the cover for the front seat...I had to order more yarn...

***

I saw a commercial...it was for a diabetic medication...apparently they want you to feel safe using their product...a gal is texting someone on a dark street at night, another gal is grilling food and her floppy scarf is very near the grill...who comes up with these ideas for commercials...idiots or do they think we are the idiots?

Far Side

Sweetness of Winter

Have you ever tried Cara Cara Navel Oranges?

They are my favorite orange.  Our local store has them in the late fall from South Africa and now in winter they are from California.  They are more expensive than regular navel oranges….but then when buying fresh fruits I never let the price sway me one way or the other.

I complain to who ever is in the produce department if they are not in their usual spot.  Way up here in the frozen North we need every bit of sunshine goodness we can get.

They are juicy and seedless, yes the flesh is a beautiful rose color. An accident of nature a cross between two different orange trees…a delightful accident.

Just my opinion…they are a tad bit tart but still sweet enough…perhaps with berry like notes if you are an orange connoisseur. I slice them into small wedges and throw them in a bowl for breakfast.

Oh yes that is an orange cutting board…just for oranges and other fruits.

A Flag

A few weeks ago my baby brother gave me a flag.  He said I should have it.  I said “yuck it has a snake on it”… of course Far Guy knew all about the flag.
I decided to put it up for a short time before Christmas takes over.

The Gadsden Flag.  Designed by Christopher Gadsden during the American Revolution.  It was considered the first flag of The United States and was replaced later by the stars and stripes.   The Gadsden flag symbolizes patriotism and the right to our personal freedoms.

Have you heard the big Minnesota news?  One of our Senators resigned yesterday…poor Al…got caught by his bad actions.  He was elected by the voters in “the cities” and never really represented outstate Minnesota…or Veterans.  The Veterans part is what made me unhappy, he ignored questions from Far Guy.   Don’t let the door hit you in the butt Al.  So long.

I recall when I was in first, second and third grade…my teachers all had one thing in common…they would say “Keep your hands to yourself.”   Seems to me maybe teachers and parents are not teaching that so much anymore.

I cannot imagine anyone being silent about any kind of harrasment for 20 plus years…yet it seems to have happened to many women.  I tried to remember back 20 years ago…I had to go back 40 years before I could come up with one situation where I just laughed out loud at the person and said “You have got to be kidding.”

I have just about had it with the Me Too crap.  Stick up for yourself when something makes you uncomfortable…get a backbone…jeeze louise don’t wait 20 years.

Measuring Up

The garage sale was good we got rid of lots of “stuff”.   There is still a lot out there so we will have the sale for one more day this next weekend.   Then I will pack it away until spring. Sold three bulky pieces of furniture…so the garage looks emptier.  I also had time to clean out Far Guys vehicle and wash his windows and get rid of half a dog.

We celebrated Jen’s birthday on Sunday and all went out to supper together.

I had the grand boys stand still for a photo.

Adam and Noah

I told Noah that he better wear his hair more poufy on the top because he is about to be passed up.

In this photo is appears that baby brother has passed up older brother by a hair or two. 

Baby brother Adam is a Freshman this year and older brother Noah is a Post Secondary Option Student and will graduate from High School and with his Associate of Arts Degree in the spring.

Adam has his permit to drive now, but for the moment he isn’t real keen on driving.

I hugged both the boys and thanked them for not having earrings hanging out of their noses, stuck through their tongues or eyebrows or for wearing those terrible black circles in their ears.  They both looked at me a bit funny…yes they know nutty grandma is full of opinions….but sometimes you have to let kids know that they are appreciated for something they didn’t do.

Feeling Safe

Fifteen years ago today I was in Mapleton North Dakota.  Adam was just eight days old.  I was there to watch Adam while Jen taught a class.  I think Andy dropped Noah off at daycare.  Jen and I were having a quiet morning when the phone rang…it was Trica calling from Lombard Illinois ( a suburb of Chicago)….she said “turn on the TV.”   So we did. 

The horror on the East Coast unfolded before our eyes.  I held Adam and wept because the world would be forever different for him and his brother.  The day care provider called and said “I cannot watch children anymore today.”  So we went to get Noah.  Jen’s class was cancelled.  I packed up and headed home, I needed gas and stopped at a gas station…a fellow there said “Use your charge card… you will never be charged.”  Huh?   I didn’t feel safe all the way home…I was on edge…what would happen next? 

I worried about our granddaughters in Illinois.  I worried about our grandsons in North Dakota.  I prayed.  I felt better once I returned home, safer, but still concerned.

We live in the boonies,  I know my neighbors; I know where they work and I know their childrens names.  In most cases I have known them since they were born or all my life.  The closest thing to a terrorist in this neck of the woods would be a skunk.

No one should be able to make you afraid in your own home.  I was uneasy for a long time.   I don’t like crowds.  If I am in a larger building I mentally inventory all the exits and where they are…a Movie Theater is probably one of the scariest places for me.  ( Can I make it to the exit before I am trampled by these young kids who can move faster than me?)

Fifteen years later…do I feel safer?  Yes.  If I were a world traveler I probably wouldn’t feel safe, but as a hermit living a quiet life in the boonies…yes I do feel safer.  But I will never forget the feelings on that day fifteen years ago.

 

Do you stand if you are able when the first flag passes you in a parade?  Do you stand for the National Anthem?   Lately it seems that some people don’t want to give our flag the honor it deserves.  If you were born in the USA, or are a legal citizen stand up for our flag or leave.  That’s all I am saying about that.

Pin Cushions and Pants and Tattoos

I bet you cannot tell what is on my mind?

A young man walks down the street with the crotch of his pants to his knees…with various colors of underwear showing and his hat on backwards.  I bet he doesn’t have a job.  He probably has some of those black do hickeys stretching out his ear lobes too. 

Why is it that the younger generation likes the pin cushion look?  Holes and earrings in their eyebrows, noses, navels, lips, tongues and only the good Lord knows where else.

Then the tattoos.  It used to be only men in the Navy got tattoos and they were heart shaped wreaths of flowers on their upper arms with a banner that said “Mother” or “Sweetheart”  or anchors with names.  I never dated a boy with a tattoo.  Then it became popular for anyone in the service to have a tattoo…often they were acquired after a night on the town being in a drunken stupor. 

Now everyone seems to have a tattoo…we saw a kid in line at Wally World and someone who was not very artistic hacked up the back of his leg with ink…it was rather comical. Far Guy asked me what it was…I turned my head every which way to try and decipher it…with no luck. I should have just asked “Which tattoo artist botched up your leg and what was it supposed to be?”

We saw some of these pin cushioned, tattooed, saggy pants persons tossing a baby in the air the other day…I mean way in the air…Far Guy and I both shuddered. Remember that old game called “Hot Potato” ?  Must be a new game called “Hot baby”…it was one time I did not have my camera along.  

Kids have too much money and too much time on their hands and parental units that are off in la la land IF they have them..if they live with them.

I wouldn’t want to be a parent now a days… I never had to worry about beaus with saggy pants…I would have pulled up the pants and drawers in one fell swoop and then called his Mom or Dad.  The girls each had their ears pierced when they were about 10 years old… they would be able to tell you exactly when.  If they would have come home with more piercings I would have grounded them for months…and a tattoos well those were for men and hoodlums and not for proper young ladies.

Lately I am seeing beautiful young brides that are only beautiful until you see the tattoos going up and down their arms…uffda…some of them look like they could be in an old side show called the tattooed lady..only there is no admission.

Times are a changing…but not for the better.

I do have one question…if you have one of those nose rings and it is 40 below zero and your nose starts to run..does the snot collect around the ring and then drip off when it warms up?  I bet it would hurt if someone accidently pulled one of those suckers out too.

Doodles

There was an expert on television talking about people who doodle.  If you doodle during a meeting you are focused. ( I am bored and want to accomplish something even if it is emptying a pen of it’s ink on one sheet of paper.)

What you doodle says something about you. (Maybe)  I doodle flowers (the same old Daisy with rounded petals.)  I also doodle arrows, cubes and houses. (Why?)  Those are the only things I can draw that look like anything.

I would doodle peoples faces or cartoons if I had a lick of drawing talent in me.

When I was in  High School our Art Teacher was Mr. Windahl.  He was a nice man, I wanted to draw and learn about pencils, watercolors, chalks and shading and form… I was like a sponge ready to soak up whatever he taught me. Well he liked listening to himself talk and lecture about art, he also liked to paint.  I would have loved to learn how to mix colors.  I recall making some kind of clay pot. Big deal.

Years later my friend Susan and I signed up for an Adult Education class on how to draw…finally I bought sketchpads and special pencils.  WELL..that class was taught by an idiot. We were to look at something and then without taking our eyes off the subject we were to draw it.  Everything about that class was a dismal failure…including my sketches.

So yes I doodle…do you?  Don’t you love my purple pen?  I have a set of pens all different colors!

 

Notice how large those flowers are but so stylized as I have been doodling them for years.  Don’t laugh at my fat arrow either it has texture, and the house well the door is always open so it obviously is not in Minnesnowfreezeyourbuttoffota.

Five thoughts..or what’s in my craw

Spring Cleaning can give you lots of time to think.  I have a few things in my craw…imagine that.

First of all Minnesota’s extreme cold.   Sara Haines of the Hoda and Kathie Lee Show visited the Artic Cat snowmobile factory in Thief River Falls Minnesota.  Sara said “ It was so cold your skin hurt.”  Hoda replied “Your nose hairs freeze.”  It was a measly –4F that day…brrr..poor baby.  Your nose hairs warm the air..that is their function..to warm and filter the air going into your nose.  And take it from me  at –4 F your skin does not hurt..at –40 F maybe..they should all go to Thief River and do one of their remote location shoots from a snow bank. Oh ya, I forget they don’t go anywhere they can’t wear those short skirts and they would look and walk funny with frost bitten legs.

Second, American Idol really sucks this year.  I watched and napped one night last week when the girls sang..then I napped through the entire boys show the next night.  I like Angie Miller..she sings like a winner.  That weird girl judge with the hair drives me nuts…whoever she is ain’t good…her voice drives me straight up the wall. I cannot imagine what she could possibly sing that would sell records. 

Third, I am really tired of all the gun control crap. Yes some people have guns..yes some people are mentally ill and use guns.  If you want to go nuts and kill a bunch of people you will find a way.  Yes, three people die every hour from guns..two of those three people are suicides.  Secure your guns..buy a gun safe..at the very least buy a trigger lock.  If you come to my door in the middle of the night..I am going to shoot you..plain and simple.  Hopefully if I have time to aim, I will just shoot you in the kneecaps.

Fourth, If we used our energy toward curtailing drinking and driving we could save lives.  Every 53 minutes someone is killed by a drunk driver. I guess it is more socially acceptable to use a car as a weapon.. and that my friends sickens me. I have zero tolerance for alcohol misuse.  If I were making the laws..I would hang the driving drunks from their necks until dead. There would be no need to have the three four strikes you are supposed to be in jail laws that most judges ignore.

Fifth, I hate the hour change of daylight saving time..it upsets my rhythm.  What purpose does it serve anyway other than to irritate me twice a year:(

Happy New Year!

Time to turn over the calendar.  Begin again..make new “to do” lists..some of which are repeats from last year.   Clean out the cupboards and drawers..organize..those things end up on my list every year. BORING. I had a “to do” list and I was working on it before I was interrupted by Christmas. 

I did not make any resolutions this year.

BUT If I were to make some these would be real high on my list:

I should be more patient and kind to stupid irritating people.

I should answer the phone cheerfully as if I really give a crap about the person on the other end of the line. ( My other baby brother says I should practice this one everyday.  Sometimes he even calls twice in a row just to check and see how damn cheerful I sound.)

I should be more willing to drop all of my projects and tend to all so called emergencies that wouldn’t be emergencies if some people had their poop in a pile.

I should be calm and understanding when Far Guy forgets his pills all day long and is in terrible pain…ding..ding..ding..if he feels rotten it might be he FORGOT his pills..not one dose..but several.

I should be tolerant of all kinds of different behaviors..like when the checkout lady at the grocery store stops to blow her nose really loudly and her tiny little Kleenex can’t catch it all so she wipes her hands on her pants..I shouldn’t cringe ..next time before choosing a checkout line I am going to observe the checkout gals..if they look like they are getting a cold..I am not going in their line.  If someone notices me observing from afar..I will just say “I am looking for the least germy one.”

I should not think badly of people because they bathe in perfume or aftershave instead of water.  They have obviously lost their sense of smell, or destroyed it with their spritzes and splashes of toilet water..or perfume de skunk.

I should be cheerful and understanding especially when I  have declared a time out on the couch for a whole hour and I am interrupted half a dozen times during that hour. After all talking with me might just be the highlight of a miserable day.

Yesiree..that would be a partial list if I were a resolution making kind of gal.

Happy New Year! :)

Antique Greeting Postcard

A Board

Just a few thoughts today on Board Members.  Elected by the members to oversee and lead a nonprofit organization. 

I have been a board member.   I was the Treasurer of the Volunteer Fire Department, I was on the Board of Evangelism at the Church.  A long time ago I was the Vice President and then President of the PTO. I even ran for School Board one time..I didn’t win..but it was still a good experience. I served on the County Sheriff’s Citizens Committee.

I was an active Board Member..I volunteered my time, I chaired projects, I went the extra mile.  I even helped sew (hard to imagine that I can sew..gasp) costumes for the Live Nativity one year.  When I felt that I had given my all..I moved on and let someone with new ideas and new enthusiasm have my position. A Board member should always do what is best for an organization. 

Some people are Board Members just so they can say they are. It must make them feel important.  Perhaps it is a feather in their cap..and when they preen in the mirror they like their own reflection. 

Everyone that serves on a Board should take a good look at themselves.  Have you been sitting in your chair so long that someone will have to start dusting you off?

Do you have 4 to 6 hours a month to volunteer? 8 to 12 hours would be even better.

Can you work well in a group?  Are you flexible?  Does everything have to be your way or no way?  Will you pound your fists on the table during a meeting..and say “If that’s the way it’s going to be I don’t want any part of it.”

Are you a good communicator?  Can you network? Can you hear, and if you cannot will you make arrangements to have someone accompany you that can.  Can you read?

What skills will you bring to the organization?

Can you motivate others?  Are you passionate about your membership within the non profit? 

Will you chair a project?  Will you serve on a committee?

Do you have what I will call “a forward thinking vision” ?  Where do you see the non profit in five years, ten years, twenty years?   Are you a mover and a shaker or are you content to just stay in the same place, shifting your weight from one foot to the other?  

If you don’t have what it takes to be a board member..then step aside and let someone else give it a whirl.

Just a few of my thoughts before the Annual Meeting next week where a few board members are up for reelection:)

Progress?

Times are a changing..times are getting tougher.

People that enrolled their land in CRP ( Conservation Reserve Program) or before that it was a similar program called Soil Bank of the 1950’s are selling out.  Traitors.

Fields that reverted to Natural Prairie, saving the soil and the water from the pesticides and over use by the Corporate Farmer are falling by the wayside one by one.

First they come in and put in a well for a center pivot irrigator.

This field has not been farmed for years..I am sixty ..sigh..and I have never seen a crop planted in this field.  It has always been a natural prairie home to the tall grasses, flowers, birds, rabbits and mice.

A spark burned this section of land on Friday when we had the wind from hell.

This piece of land is two miles south of us.   Everyone was concerned where the wildfire would go..Far Guy said the flames were awesome.  His Uncle lives to the west, the wind was from the south..the fire travelled north.  If it would have jumped the road..it would have been an out of control fire in the mainly pine forest along the lake.  The helicopters couldn’t fly and the water dumpers were grounded due to the wind.

 

This photo is history.  History of the Tall Grass Prairie that soon will become a home for potatoes that make Extra Long French Fries that stand up in a box..pinto beans and small grains.

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
- Aldo Leopold

I have more to say about this subject..but for now I will be quiet. 

I found an old copy of my favorite book at a garage sale the other day.  A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold..if you would like to be entered into a drawing for it then leave me a comment.  Please tell me how close do you live to a Tall Grass Prairie?  I live a mile from one..so far it has escaped the clutches of the  corporate farmer. I will draw a name on Monday night.  The book cost a whole quarter, I buy them when ever I see them at garage sales..and I pass them on to people who I know will appreciate them:)

Pinch your nose

I can think of several reasons to pinch my nose lately.

A dead skunk in the road on the way to work. Uffda.   After getting to work, an assortment of women who forgot to bathe and doused themselves in perfume entered the museum.   A few men with over powering aftershave were mixed in the bunch too..gave me a headache, and instantly plugged up my nose.   I should get hazardous duty pay.  For awhile yesterday I was thinking of breaking out the Gas Mask that is in one of the display cabinets.

Seriously does perfume eventually destroy your sense of smell?  How can anyone not know that they are as offensive with their perfume and aftershave as a cigar or pipe smoker.  If you use perfume..ask some of your non perfumed friends how you smell.  Do yourself and other people a favor and pour your perfume down the drain.  Go scentless..bathe..use soap..like Ivory..perhaps you will have more friends.

I could have used a pair of these old spectacles.

No bows or wires that hook over your ear..these just pinch your nose.  They are called Pince-nez.  These were in an Antique Shop..no I did not buy them.

In eight working days I will be done, I have enough comp time to vacate the museum at least three days early…which may be a good thing.  It froze here again last night and the museum was very cool today..if it stays cold I will have to wear a parka and snow boots to work.  The Board Members will just have to handle the over perfumed and the cool temperatures for a few days:)

Creature of Habit

I am a creature of habit.  I leave the house every morning and say the same thing “ Bye sweetie see ya later, have a good day.”  I let Chance in the house and he moves over by the step and lays down.   “Bye Chance see ya later, be a good boy.”  I drive the same road, I turn on the same street.  I open the museum and I have a routine I follow to unlock the  nine doors…at night it is the reverse.  I leave the parking lot the same way and I go down a block and see if the white cat is in the yard.

He must be a creature of habit also.  In the spring and early summer he was sitting on a car, now he enjoys the grass in the yard.  Sometimes he is scruffy and dirty looking like he just had a bath in the alley. He is usually in the yard everyday at 4:33.  I look for him, I wonder if he looks for me? 

I am not crazy about people who let their house cats out of the house.  Sooner of later, they will get hit by a car, or maimed in a fight with a bigger tougher cat, or get picked up by an Eagle or at night by an Owl…or by a coyote.  Don’t get your panties in a bunch if you have a cat and let him/her outdoors.  We have had both extremes ..Keshia who would cry mournfully if we took her out of the house, and Shadow who used the outdoors as his sandbox and had to be let out of the house just like one of the dogs, and Dawn who took off one time and was gone for 30 days..but returned thin and meowing like we were the ones that were missing, she was content to stay home for awhile after that big adventure. ( I was sure an Eagle or an Owl had gotten her.)  Cats are safer living their lives as “IN” the house pets. 

Barn cats are another story..they are used to being outdoors and usually have all their claws and hunt their own food, a necessity on a farm.

I stopped yesterday and took this photo, the white cat has one blue eye and one green eye.  He stared at me…what a grump.   I took his photo! If he was my cat I would clean out his ears..and take him into the house.  But he isn’t my cat, and no I am not getting a cat..I am way over having a cat in the house:)

Art or Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I am not sure about all the Artsy Fartsy “stuff” at the Art Museum upstairs. 

This is the main gallery with all “The Masters.”  I was coveting her TWO air conditioners.  I am not sure what the pew is for..perhaps just a resting space for weary art appreciators.

I liked this painting the best.

I bet you can guess why? 

 

I guess these are ok..I can take them or leave them.

Sometimes I hear the piano music..

This is all in the main gallery which used to be the main courtroom in the Courthouse. 

There are offices off to the side..that is where the Woodcarving exhibit is going on..there is an Open House this Saturday for the general public to meet the Woodcarvers.  They will have to meet me downstairs, before or after they view the exhibit.  Many of the Woodcarvers that we carve with have exhibited their works.  Tomorrow I will show you some of their work:)

Tidbits on Thursday

We had afternoon coffee at the neighbors the other day.  I tried out a new muffin recipe on them..they were the guinea pigs. I asked them to please tell me the truth..if the new recipe sucked we could just pitch them out for the turkeys .

These are male turkeys..I have no idea if they are Jakes ( yearling turkeys) or Toms (more than one year old).  I wanted to show you their beards..which is the hair like tuft that protrudes from the center of their chest..and those spurs..the Indians used to make arrows from them.  I took this photo out of the window.

 

Dave feeds the turkeys and the deer year round. While we had coffee and goodies, the turkeys and the deer did a dance..the deer came out of the woods one by one..then a few minutes later here came the turkeys.  The deer chased the turkeys off, but as soon as the deer left the turkeys came back..until the deer showed up again.

I do not approve of feeding deer..it bunches them up and they can spread disease in feeding areas through their saliva.  We do not feed the deer at our house..unless you count the bird feeders that are sometimes emptied during the night. Many silver hairs in this area feed the deer..I have heard “Oh we just like watching them”  it must be one of those rites of the ageing.

Oh ya the muffins were a hit. It was just a regular bran muffin recipe that I added tart unsweetened dried cherries to.  It seems I ordered 10 pounds of tart unsweetened dried cherries when I should have ordered sweetened ones.  Next I am going to try them in brownies.  We like dried cherries..the bing cherries I dried in the dehydrator are ok..and the small packages I purchased in town are fantastic..but these unsweetened dried ones will really pucker you up.  Lesson learned ..or it will be by the time I get ten pounds of them baked into something.

Just so you know, I won some kind of lottery..I am not sure how many Euros make a million dollars..but I think I have several million, at least that is what the email said.

We have been chosen once again to be a Nielson TV Rating household.  This is the third time we have been chosen..they must have my number..either that or they don’t really believe that someone can have the TV turned to the weather channel and watch it off and on all day long.

Now for a delicate subject.  Word verification..you know those pesky little words that make no sense what so ever?   Blogger has a new spam filter..a good one..the word verification is obsolete…it is just a pain in the butt.   Furthermore there are people that insist on using it plus they also moderate comments..what is up with that? Why would you use both? ( I do moderate comments on posts that are more than three days old.)   I am trying to understand..I find it really irritating to type and sometimes retype a word to leave a comment.  So sometimes I do not leave you a comment.  GO ahead be daring..try going naked..without the word verification..and see what happens ..if you are inundated by spam then you can always turn the word verification back on:)  

****** My daughter the English Professor just pointed out that I should have told you how to go about turning off your word verification.  OK.. Go to your Dashboard> Find the blog that you want to change the settings on>click on Settings>then Comments>scroll down to Comment Moderation and make your choice>scroll down to Word Verification and chose no> SAVE YOUR SETTINGS!  Then you are done:)

Wildflowers: June 22, 2010

Happy Summer!   Chance and I had our very own welcome to summer party, we were out looking for wildflowers.  I love the soft light of the evening, and last night the clouds were pretty interesting too.  I have learned to always take the keys out of the car, or leave the window down as the brilliant border collie can and will step on the door lock, he loves to ride in the front and co pilot for me..drooling and making nose spots on the window.  When we got back, we played ball and he went for a dip in his pool.  Our daytime temperatures are around eighty...dogs won't mold will they..he is continually wet. 

Here are some of the wildflowers that have been blooming recently.

Canada Hawkweed or Hieracium canadense, a non native and one of seven species of Hawkweed in Minnesota.

Evening Primrose or Oenothera biennis a native plant whose flowers open in the evening, by the next day at noon they will wilt and be  done.  A fleeting beauty.

Golden Alexanders or Zizia aurea, a native plant..cheerful and yellow flat clusters of flowers.

Yellow Sweet Clover or Melilotus officinalis is a non native and was once grown as a hay crop, now it is just mowed along the roadsides.

Northern Snow Bedstraw or Galium boreale is a native.  The early pioneers dried this fragrant plant and stuffed their mattresses with it.  If you are in a real pinch, after the seeds have dried you can brew them up for a coffee substitute.

Wild Rose or Rosa arkansana this native to Minnesota plant is blooming quite happily in our yard.  The fragrance is heavenly.


Wild Calla or Calla palustris is another native found in bogs and swamps.

White Campion or Lychnis alba is a non native.  The petals of this flower retract back into the green bladder during the day, it blooms best in the evening.  It's redeeming quality is the tiny seeds it produces that are eaten by sparrows and finches. 

Years ago I met an old lady, well she was way older than me. She really irritated me.  She wanted only native plants in her yard.  She had no Wild Rose..she had no Northern Bedstraw..certainly no Evening Primrose..she was missing the boat.  I am not sure if she ever had a boat ..she definitely did not have both sets of oars in the water.  I have met these "nature women " before.  I do not get along with them. They are a total waste of my time.  She doesn't want seedy weedy plants next to the shoreline, I explained that many of the natural tall grasses that are near the shore produce seed heads that are food for baby ducks..she isn't the least bit interested in those messy creatures.  I almost tore my hair out..sometimes shore-land restoration drives me nuts..just let the natural grasses come back and let the Wild Iris bloom..don't be so picky.  No matter what kind of fancy native plants you plant ( the kind that are rarely found, but you pick because of a pretty flower or the ones that struggle to grow)  sooner or later your knees, hips or your back are going to give out, the native grasses will take over again and the baby ducks will have some food once again along your shoreline.  Your pathetic attempts trying to manipulate native wildflower plantings will be history. 

I enjoy the native wildflowers..but I enjoy them where they grow naturally...not where someone tends them, eagerly watching for the next tiny weed.  I swear the only thing some of these people have to do is weed, then again with the lake shore taxes they must pay perhaps it is the only thing they can afford to do:)

Baiting Deer

Okay, someone dumped a whole slug of pumpkins in the woods just before deer hunting season started. Now this could have been someone with excess pumpkins..and they could have been driving along this road..and the pumpkins could have all rolled out of the back of a pickup.. they could have ended up in a heap next to a deer run....

The fine for baiting deer in Minnesota is 385 dollars. They can also seize your firearm, and if you happen to have gotten a deer at your baiting site they will fine you another 500 dollars. Let's see 385 plus 500 plus a gun..that is pretty expensive bait.

Who exactly are these idiots that bait deer? I refuse to call them hunters..hunters hunt deer, baiters just skip the hunting part. They strew pumpkins, apples, corn, sunflower seeds, or oats next to their deer stands. Baiting is unfair, baiting changes natural movement patterns, baiting is unsportsmanlike, baiting brings the herd close together to share germs.  Of course if you are a baiter..your "hunting experience" can be over in a day or two, you can quickly check it off of your list for yet another year. You sling the deer carcass over the hood of your car and drive off into the sunset, never stopping to think that the deer that you have been baiting could have had Bovine TB..when deer bunch up at baiting sites they can spread germs to each other. But you don't care..you are oblivious to health problems in the herd..you just want to blast a deer, have your photo taken in your orange hunting clothing with a dead deer and be on your merry way. No doubt your deer has been shot someplace else besides the head or neck. You have ruined much of the meat because you were too excited to wait for a good head shot. But it doesn't much matter because you don't butcher your own deer meat anyway it will be thrown in a heap at the local butcher shop, a mass of legs sticking in the air.

Now for the REAL HUNTER, he arrives at his deer stand before daylight and stays until dark. He watches and waits..he waits sometimes for days. Finally a deer wanders in, you take aim, and one clear shot to the head makes the deer drop in just a few steps. You gut the deer, put your tag on it, load it up to register it
and bring it back home to hang it up so the blood drains down..later after the meat has cooled you will skin it and wash out the body cavity..you will then butcher it on the kitchen table..cutting out all fat and bone.

Some hunters grow many rows of corn in the area of their deer stands. This is legal in Minnesota.. in my opinion it borders on baiting or at least unsportsmanlike entrapment. However agricultural crops are allowed.. what do you think?

Don't get me wrong, I support real  Hunters in their quest for meat. I was raised as a hunter, it was one activity that we really enjoyed with our father. I wish that the DNR in Minnesota would have allowed more licenses in our area, from what I saw last week on the deer trails..we have a huge herd. I dislike the deer ticks that we have to fight from April til the snow flies:(
*** Far Guy has written a few blogs recently, go on over and help him fill in the blanks:)

Hocus Pocus

I think I might have met a witch, how do you tell for sure? She had no pointy hat, no warts on her nose, she looked normal. Well as normal as me anyway, blonde, and glasses..she wore a shirt with a peace sign on it. Should that have raised a red flag?

She talked about, bad energy and good energy. With pain being bad energy. She was the speaker at the Trigeminal Neuralgia Support Group meeting last Tuesday night. She recommended one of her "mixtures" as a miracle cure. I asked her what was in her mixture..she could not tell me. I have a list of hundreds of medications and supplements that Far Guy cannot take. If I call her, she can tell me exactly whats in it..yet she could not name even one ingredient. Well I am not a great one to ask for a recipe either..but I do know the basics for most recipes I concoct. Sugar, cocoa and milk equals hot cocoa! A hotdish would have meat, pasta, potatoes, or rice and a vegetable with some kind of sauce. A few recipes does not make me a Chef..only a cook.

She recommended that we come in for the Ionic Foot Baths, to rid our bodies of heavy metals. When all the metals were gone, she would give us a special potion to give us back the metals we need. She recommended that everyone go to a special Dentist and have all the fillings removed from our teeth.

She recommended touch point acupuncture, she demonstrated this on a likely victim. She had a shiny silver tool, that kind of looked like a tire gauge, she rubbed it along the lady's finger and went into a trance. By "trance " I mean..special words that obviously must accompany the procedure for it to work. She finally found what she was looking for in the lady's finger, a spot of extreme pain and tapped it with a sharp point at the other end of her fancy tool. Then she took out a little band-aid type thing with a metal point on it and put it precisely on that spot. She kept asking the lady where else she hurt besides her head, well if you ask an elderly woman enough times where else she hurts ..eventually she will come up with another complaint. Well wouldn't you know..that one was addressed also. She said our bodies are all out of whack. That our bodies should be a perfect PH of 7. That we are most likely too acidic. We would benefit from full body massages also, well here is my take on that sort of pampering.

Well about this time, I am thinking..someone is way out of whack..and it ain't me. I do not know what other types of services are available at her place of business..I do not know if she is part of the new age movement. or if she is a witch. What do you think? I have met many weirdos in my life, but never one like this before:)