GLORIOUS DAY....LITTLE THINGS
This morning turned out to be the start of another glorious spring day. I celebrated by dragging one of my rocking chairs out onto the deck and soaking up the early morning sunshine. Just sitting back with my eyes closed and hearing the volumes of birdsongs was a little thing that pleased me no end. I heard some frog-croaking also...lovely voices to hear at this time. I looked over the rail at the brave tulips that have begun to bloom. Im spite of being snowed upon and covered with wet heavy snow, they are reviving nicely. One little clump of ivory-colored tulips are blossoming and even thought they are few, I could not resist going down to the spring garden bed and cutting 6 tulips to bring into the house for a few days. This process led me to finding a vase and I chose a green glass basket that belonged to my Mother, probably from the time she got married to my Dad, in the early 1930's. The glass basket, complete with a glass handle, looks like depression glass. It is a treasure to me, not because it may be very valuable, but because of the memories of my Mom and the way she used this glass basket into which she put sweet peas when they bloomed in July and August. I can still smell the fragrance of those sweet peas when I handle the green glass basket. It takes me right back "home" again and I can see our living room and dining room as plain as my own rooms now. Another "little thing" that means so much.
When I sit on the deck on such a morning as this one, I do a lot of thinking also....I think about my loved ones...my sons, their wives (my only "daughters") my husband, grandkids, all the good friends I have....and I give thanks for being "daily loaded with benefits"...a phrase from Psalm 66. I also thought about the sorry state of our nation and I thought about some things which I consider to be "national sins"....particularly the "law" that has allowed millions of unborn babies to be killed before they were able to sustain life and grow up to be citizens of this nation. Do we really think that a nation that breaks one of the commandments given by God will escape the punishment that will be meted out by a Righteous Almighty God??? This nation, in spite of what the Naysayers and "freethinkers" say, WAS founded on the princples given in the Mosaic Law of the ten commandments. In fact most civilized societies have based their laws on this ancient book of laws. This nation is where the Founders and the original colonists sprang from England, and our laws are based on English law...which is based on the ten commandments. No civilized nation of the past has not had those laws as the foundation of their nations' laws. Even those nations which are not considered "Western" in the sense that we understand, have laws based on the commandents, even though the Mosaic Laws are not part of their culture or religion. The majority of societies have laws prohibiting the taking of innocent life. That was another "little thing" I thought about on the deck this morning, although that is not exactly a "little thought".
I also made a decision to go out to our cemetery and put some flowers on my Mom's grave for the Mothers' Day weekend. At the same time, I will take a little trip westward to see if that glorious spring green haze is apparent yet on the many groves of wild poplars that grow in profusion along the highway. It was not yet "out" on Wednesday this week. When I looked into our still brown/gray woodland this morning from the "deck of ponderings"...I spotted a light green haze in certain areas....near the river...and I realize I am seeing the first growth on the wild willows. I wish I could capture the beauty of this early spring green haze I love so dearly. But I have not so far, and unless I quickly become a skillful and sensitive artist, I will not, in the future. I am grateful for good eyesight to go out and look at it while it lasts. I just hope some other true artist might capture it for me....I would gladly buy a painting of this "spring thing" I absolutely adore.
Later today, if I feel like I have recuperated from yesterday's exertions in my "kitchen garden" (the planting of lettuce, spinach, carrots and snap sugar peas) and my body is not aching quite as much as it is now, I will sow my "Hummingbird and Butterfly" garden from a big can of wildflower seeds. "The Wannabe Birder" on Areavoices advised that it is not too early to put out the hummingbird feeders as they are well on their northerly migration...and that was a couple of weeks ago. The Hummingbird feeder is going out today also---filled with the liquid that the little Hummers drink so eagerly. Now I need to figure out a good place for an Oriole Diner.....where I can leave plates of grape jelly and orange pieces. A picture I saw on the "Country Scribe's" blog a year ago, showed (closeup) a male Oriole with an insect in his mouth....he was dipping it in grape jelly before he ate it. What a picture!!!
Posted by: gsyvrud@aol.com on 5/9/2008 at 1:42 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
BIRD AND BREAKFAST
Today, while out to lunch with some friends who have been long-term friends, I heard the most delightful tale about Purple Martins, Martin houses and the recent cold weather.
One of the good friends who used to live much closer to me is now living on a lake in the Detroit Lakes area. I am going to call her "Janie" to protect her innocence. I am calling her husband "Mark" for the same reason.
Mark and Janie are animal and wildlife lovers and have done much to make many animals 'lives much more "comfortable". The most recent true story is about a "Bird and Breakfast" service for Purple Martins who sent out their scouts much too early this year. Mark has built many Martin houses since moving to the lake and has convinced the neighbors to do the same. So when these Martin scouts arrived in late April, they got into one of Mark's Martin houses and settled down for a few days. Then came another one of our April snowstorms and Martins do not take to such insulting weather. Mark was extremely worried about them. He knew they were much too cold in the birdhouse they occupied so he figured out a way to put a lightbulb into the house to warm things up. First he put in a 50 watt bulb for the birds, who were huddled together in the back of the "bird apartment". But he feared it was too cold, so he inserted a 75 watt bulb. Then he thought about it some more and put in a 100 watt bulb. But the 100 watt bulb actually burned a hole in the bottom of the bird house floor!!!! The Martins were OK but probably a bit too hot???? He remedied the situation with a smaller bulb but began to worry that they were not getting the proper food in this cold weather since Martins rely on flying insects and none were flying in our cold spell after the storm.
This made a trip to the DL pet store necessary. He bought several pounds of mealworms and put some in the house. The Martins ate up all the mealworms. When he went back to the pet store, he not only bought more mealworms but also about 5 pounds of live crickets. He took these home and sat down at the kitchen table where he proceeded to cut up the crickets in smaller pieces (Janie fled the scene, not able to cope with live crickets being cut up on her kitchen table). The Martins loved the crickets too. Next on the menu, Mark had Janie make up a good quantity of scrambled eggs which they minced into tiny pieces for the birds....who ate them up as well.
By that time, the weather was improving and insects were once again flying. The Bird and Breakfast operation became unnecessary and the Martins are thriving in the birdhouse; their fellow Purple Martins have arrived and nearly all the birdhouses on that particular stretch of the lake front are occupied with happy Martins who are flying, perching, and eating again.... from nature's bird bounty.
I love this true story....Mark and Janie are examples of really kind people....people who will go out of their way to help a couple of Purple Martins survive a nasty weather patch in our dreary month of April this year. People who are so kind to tame and wild animals are also very kind to human beings....and I can attest that it is true of my good friends, Mark and Janie, on the shores of a beautiful lake not too far from Detroit Lakes!
Posted by: gsyvrud@aol.com on 5/6/2008 at 4:02 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Some of the readers of this blog might remember Gene Autrey's mellow voice singing "I'm back in the saddle again...back where a friend is a friend..." as he rode along on Champion's back. (A member of my family has a different memory of Gene Autrey that is not as sweet as Gene jogging along on Champion, singing songs....Gene Autrey was the Guest Star at a huge rodeo in central North Dakota in the late 1940's but he fell off his horse during the parade due to being extremely inebriated!!!! There went the nice legend for a lot of kids watching the parade that day, long ago.)
But, back in the saddle-----I acted as a substitute teacher for the past three days in my retired-from -school district when the librarian who took my place had to be away for a family graduation. It has been 4 years since my retirement and I have gotten entirely too used to being "leisurely" in my daily activities. Getting up for three mornings before 6 a.m. in order to get to school at the appointed time for teachers was not easy. Being on my feet a lot for the first time in 4 years was not easy either. The first day I came home from subbing, I felt like I had been through all the first days of school rolled into one grand day!! Famously, during my teaching career, all of us suffered from the "First Day of School" syndrome....tiredness by the end of the day and aching feet! All of us felt like we had been "rode hard and put away wet" at the end of the opening day of school. I felt like all those days had fallen on me last Thursday when I came home and announced that my feet hurt clear up to my hips. Thankfully, I had a bottle of Aleve and I used it for a couple of days. I do not like taking stuff like Aleve or Advil due to its adverse effects on the human liver and kidneys, but in desperation, I will allow myself a couple of doses to get over the rough spots.
It was fun to go back to my old stomping grounds though. I am so familar with that big library room in whichI spent nearly 25 years.... coming in every morning during the school year. I easily slipped back into the daily routine and enjoyed the kids coming in and out....and their conversations, which were always stimulating to me. Being a teacher meant that no day was ever boring...kids just won't allow a boring day for a teacher. I heard so many good stories over those years from kids but the best one was a story about a rooster who was, shall we say, a bit heavy on the testosterone. The family had a goat who thought he was a chicken and the rooster thought the goat was the most attractive creature he had ever seen so the "action" in the chicken pens was a bit kinky when the rooster tried to "do it" to the goat, according to the kid who told me this story, very innocently and very truthfully. It was just another day at the farm to his way of thinking. I did manage to keep a straight face that time.
I also got to see the "alumni" from the elementary school that I knew back when I was still on board as a full time teacher. My days during this "subbing" stint included a morning at the high school library followed by afternoons in the elementrary one. I saw many familiar faces but they were terribly grown up from when I knew them last. I also had trouble putting names on the faces....a natural happening due to having to know the names of over 300 kids each school year and when they left 6th grade I tended to forget a lot the names even though I knew the faces. It was an entirely satisfying three days but I know now why I retired when I did.....I was getting too tired out at the end of the days and I still was tired at the end of the 3 days of subbing.
It is also nice to have a bit of time right now that can be called "springtime". The air is mild and dry; the sun sets later than ever and I have seen the first signs of the gentle gauzy green mist of the poplar trees just before they break out into full leaf. I have to drive west on highway 10 tomorrow to see if the many groves of poplars are at that "just right" stage of budding. I love that green gauzy haze that appears right before the leaves come forth. It only seems to last for about one day or sometimes, just hours when the weather is really warm.
Today when I drove home, I saw, in the distance, the evidence that the prairie preserve near Buffalo State Park was being burned. Great billows of white smoke were belching into the sky and it was right from the area where the prairie preserve lies. They do this every spring to encourage new growth from the prairie grasses , flowers, and other plants that live in that habitat.
The dilemma that happens once a year is also upon me. We have three invitations to three graduation receptions on the same day... at the same time. And I wanted to be at all three of them--- but barring King Solomon's solution to a thorny problem....of physically dividing up the body of an infant.....or in this case, two adult bodies being apportioned up....we are not going to make it to all of them and I have to figure out a solution to the problem. I once heard a humorous Methodist pastor describe this kind of situation as being "either feast of famine" and that is what it actually is.
I really hope the tulips will bloom this spring before spring turns into summer heat, as it can do in one day around here. Poor plants have been under 8-10 inches of snow at least 3 times since they first pushed out of the ground in early April. Some have buds but they look kind of puny. I will not be happy with tiny displays of tiny tulips but I cannot do anything to change our weather patterns...if I could, I would be very popular with Global Wamers and Coolers!!!
Posted by: gsyvrud@aol.com on 5/5/2008 at 6:43 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
HEY MINNESOTA! SOMEONE IS A BIG FAT LIAR!
Oh dear here we go again, Minnesotans! After Jesse Ventura's 4 unexpected years as governor, now we have Alan Franken (a.k.a. Al) running for the Senate seat occupied by Norm Coleman. And Franken's campaign is getting derailed mighty fast by some bloggers, the national news and even the Liberal Star-Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis!!!
Franken, who authored a book about Rush Limbaugh entitled "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot" is now having a book about him being suggested : "Al Franken Is A Big Fat Tax Cheat"
Mr Franken has admitted to having a rather major tax problem...but never you mind...it is his accountant's fault and not his...according to his defensive statements in the press these past few days.
First the Star-Trib nailed him in a front page article followed by an editorial...both in justa span of two days. From the Star-Trib of Thursday May 1: (after Franken admitted to owing over 70,000 dollars in back taxes) : "Franken blamed...his accountant of 18 years for what he said was a mistake {Oh don't they all just make little mistakes lately?} " The accountant, Allen Chanziz of New York 'just made a basic kind of error that had a lot of ramificiations' Franken said." {Yeah...a 'basic error' that cost 70,000 bucks in 17 different states)
Further on the article reported: "Franken said that despite being incorporated in three states...New York, California, and Minnesota---his company, Alan Franken, Inc was structured in such a way that it had no corporate income tax liability."
Further on: "Franken has been under fire since March when a Republican blogger revealed that the entertainer and author had failed to pay workers' compensation and disability premiums for employees of his New York corporation...between 2002 and 2005"
And further on: (Ron Carey, Republican Party Chairman made this observation about Franken's thorny tax "issues":) "On Tuesday, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey said the latest revelations are indications of a troubling double standard. 'Minnesotans who are struggling to pay their taxes on a timely basis and make ends meet should be offended." {I AM offended and I would venture to guess that there are millions of other Minnesotans who are also ticked off by Franken's careless non - concern about paying his taxes in a timely and organized way. It appears that his disorganization at all levels of his "business" is not setting any examples or ideals for the sort of Senator Minnesotans would want to represent them in Washington, D.C.}
And from Yahoo news on May 2 I read about the "Republican blogger" who has caused Franken's campiagn to be reeling from the revelations about his unpaid taxes over several years. "From the kitchen table in his tranquil suburban neighborhood {Eagen MN} Michael Bordkorb for the last year has has used his "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" blog to launch a furious political assault on Franken. He's labeled the former comedian and liberal commentator a 'mean-spirited and un-Minnesotan' candidate who's running 'a desperate and ridiculous' campaign. That's routine stuff in the world of political blogging but in the last two months Brodkorb has scored two direct hits that have the Al Franken campaign reeling. Brodkorb scooped the traditional media by detailing extensive bookkeeping problems in New York and California that ultimately prompted Franken, this week, to pay about $70,000 .00 in back taxes to 17 states."
Then finally, from the Star-Trib Op-Ed page on May 2: "...the errors to which Franken owned up are damaging, and in a way that matters more to DFLers. They raise questions about competence and about the kind of campaign Minnesotans can expect if Franken is the DFL candidate for the seat occupied by Republican Norm Coleman. Doubts have now been planted about the former entertainer's ability to manage his own business, or to hire appropriate accounting help to do so. Voters are also left to wonder why the tax problems weren't spotted and corrected much earlier by a campaign that's been in operation more than a year. A thorough internal inspection of a candidate's business affairs is considered routine in today's rough -and- tumble Senate contests, and this one promises to be one of the nation's hardest-fought." (unquote)
It is becoming abundantly clear that Minnesotans should not want another embarassing national figure to gain power in the state. We suffered through 4 years with Jesse Ventura. If Franken cannot manage his way out of a wet paper bag (his own financial affairs) how can he be expected to morally and ethically lead the way in the Senate when his personal record is dragging him through a deep, muddy financial and economic swamp of his own making???
DFLers would be smart to choose someone else to run against Coleman.....someone who has more integrity and a much cleaner record than the one Al Franken is beginning to own up to ...before more things are uncovered by others. If Franken were elected as a Minnesota Senator, I , like Alexander, in the childrens' book ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY, would say, "I think I'll move to Australia" when things were overwhelming him. That is how I would feel if Franken got elected!!!!
Posted by: gsyvrud@aol.com on 5/2/2008 at 4:17 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
SNEAKING AROUND AT THE SILVERY PLACE!!!
Since I got Humana Gold medical insurance coverage, I have had the priviledge thru my insurance of having a "Silver Sneakers" free membership at the community center in a nearby town. What a bonus for being "of age" to get the Social Security benefits and Medicare! Silver Sneakers is a program of excercise and recreation for senior citizens and boyohboy.....are there ever a lot of people of retirement age at the community center I frequent every Tuesday and Thursday. The place is full of "seniors" who are either swimming, doing water excercises, pumping iron or using an excercise machine like a treadmill or a stair-stepper or an elliptical trainer.....also the walking track is full of "seniors"; some of them are in the cardio class really working out and some of them go to the "Silver Sneakers" class (I attend that one) where we can sit on chairs and really get a workout. Many others are taking a break in "Mary's Brews" coffee shop in the community center having delicious brewed coffee, cookies, bars or muffins or homemade soup in a cup or catching up on the news in a daily newspaper.
It is a totally awesome place, the community center. I would be lost without my twice a week visit where I am beginning to know and recognize a lot of new friends.
The folks in the "Silver Sneakers" class really grunt and sweat, working with our hand weights, our plastic balls and our stretchy-bands. All through the class we are "marching" to the tunes of a couple of great music tapes. We sing along when the Beach Boys "California Girls" is on the track!!! I have to bring an old towel to keep my brow from overflowing with perspiration...a good sign that I am working out really well.
Before we head to the Silver Sneakers room, many of us spend an hour in the swimming pool doing water excercises or swimming laps. We get a wonderful workout in the water first and then go on to tackle our Silver Sneakers routines. By 11:30, there are some tired but happy Campers coming down the stairs and visiting the restrooms (we drink a lot of water during the SS class also). Some of us head for home, some of us head for a place to eat lunch together (last week we hit "D.Dahl's", a favorite "haunt" in the town and I had one of the best hamburgers I have ever tasted!!!) In a couple of weeks we have an opportunity to visit Tamarac Refuge and a greenhouse as a special event during May. Knowing that May 21 is the height of woodtick season, I think I am going to skip the outing to Tamarac....if I want to get woodticks stuck to my body, I can do that pretty near my house if I really try hard....and I do not, since people have contracted Lyme Disease in this general area.
I am so grateful for Silver Sneakers, the community center where we go, and the 3 friends from my town who share driving back and forth to that place. What did I do before I got involved in Silver Sneakers? All of us are talking about buying real "silver sneakers" since they are available where athletic shoes are sold....silver colored shoes, that is,not a brand name. Then we will need some special lights to shine on our silver sneakers as we kick up our heels and toes-----while sitting on our chairs!!!!
Posted by: gsyvrud@aol.com on 4/30/2008 at 5:01 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink