2021, Business, Games, Media, Mysteries, Technology, Uncategorized

They’re Coming to Take Me Away

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I’ve been aware for some time that nothing I do online is really private.  If I look at some clothing website on Tuesday, by Wednesday, I’m getting sidebar ads for that same clothing company.  If I watch a Paws for Hope video on YouTube, suddenly lots of their videos pop to the top of my feed.  Same with Facebook.  Not too irritating although it makes me wonder if cyberspace is smart enough to know what I’m looking at, why isn’t it smart enough to know when I’ve made a purchase so they can stop showing me the ads for what I’ve bought?

I have a “color-by-number” app on my phone – it’s a mindless game that I often play if I have the tv on or am listening to a book on tape.  It only takes up about ¼ of my brain (if that).  It has a function that offers me “hints” if I watch the occasional ad.  Most of the time I ignore that function, but occasionally the puzzles have little bits that are almost impossible to see, so I like to have a couple of hints available.  About a month ago I noticed that the ads on this game were aligning with stuff that I was searching for online using my phone.  Not 100% but close enough.  So now my game is paying attention to what I’m up to when I’m not playing.   I wasn’t sure if I should worry about this or not.

Then yesterday I had the tv on while I was working in my studio.  One of the interminably long Cindy Crawford ads came on – the ones in which they talk about the special melons in the south of France.  I flipped on mute and waited it out.  While I was watching out of the corner of my eye for the commercial to end, I thought to myself “Well, at least they don’t run those Crepe Erase ads anymore.”  I’m not sure why I don’t like these ads, but I don’t even like to say the words “crepe” and “erase” together.  I have nothing against Jane Seymour, their spokeswoman, but I just don’t like the ads.  So imagine my shock when about 20 minutes later, there was Jane Seymour hawking Crepe Erase!  Honestly, I haven’t seen one of these ads for a couple of years at least.  It’s clear they’re reading my mind – this crosses the line!

Do you have a favorite hat?

2024, Family, Food, gardening, home, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

The Power Of Tarragon

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Last summer Husband bought four tarragon plants to put in the big front garden bed. We had never grown tarragon before, and I hadn’t cooked with it that much. We found it a delightful addition to the garden and to our cooking. I was sad to see Autumn come and the plants die in the first freezes. I also thought the same thing about the spinach, a late season Italian variety called Gigante d’inverno, that we plant once the peas are done in August. It is a dark green, highly savoyed spinach with large leaves. It is pretty fast growing and cold hardy. It doesn’t like heat, but likes it cool, even if it gets snowed on.

Much to our surprise, all four tarragon plants survived the winter and are growing nicely. The same is true for the few stray spinach plants we didn’t harvest last year. I never realized that a tender herb like tarragon was hardy to Zone 4, and that if well mulched, the spinach can winter over even in North Dakota. I find that amazing.

Husband plans to have lots of herbs in the garden this summer. It is also a basil summer, as we are getting low on pesto in the freezer. Can you tell I am excited about getting into the garden?

What herbs do you like to grow? What do you like to use tarragon for? How are your garden plans coming?

2024, Family, home, Technology

It’s the End of the Line

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Year after year people I know have been dumping their land lines.

For awhile I kept ours because I hate putting all my eggs in one basket, even if it’s a mobile-phone-basket.  Then right about the time I was ready to let go, my mom decided to drop hers.  Why would this matter you ask?  Well, my land line was saved in HER cell phone contacts and no matter how many times I said “you know, you should probably just call my cell….”, every 3rd or 4th call went to the land line.  Along with a voicemail saying “Oh, I guess I’ll try your cell”.   Except for picking up calls from Nonny, I’m not sure eitherYA or I have touched the handset in over a year.  Sigh.

Finally I took things into my own hands in January when I was visiting.  I deleted my land line from her contacts and changed “She” to “She-Cell Phone”.   One and done.  If she has even noticed that I don’t have two numbers any longer, she hasn’t said anything.

That was the easy part.  Now I have to figure out all the various reward programs that still have my old phone number attached to them.  Every time I think I have them all, I stumble across another.  The Container Store just two weeks ago still had the land line!

Do you still have a land line?  

2024, Family, gardening, Music

70s Sing Along

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The last two days have been gardening days chez nous.  When you have massive numbers of flowers (instead of grass), spring clean-up is a bear.  Monday we did a few hours in the front and yesterday we spent in the backyard so Guinevere could be outside with us. (Still LOTS to do… but that’s for another day). 

As we were getting going yesterday, YA brought out what I thought was a sunglasses case.  I’ve seen this around, usually when she’s getting packed up for a trip.  Turns out it’s actually a little bluetooth speaker that she got on a client trip.  I wasn’t too excited about this as our choices of music don’t usually sync up but the first song was something I recognized and then the second and the third.   I asked her if it was a specific station or if she had asked it “to play old stuff my mom would like”.  She responded that she had asked for music from the 70s. 

I graduated from high school in 1974 so I guess you could say I came of age musically in the 70s.  Abba, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, Moody Blues, Heart, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Diamond.  I was fond of many folk singers in the late 60s as well but I got my first radio of my own when I was in 10th grade.  (I never did have a record player of my own until I got married!)  I suppose a lot of nostalgia is wrapped up in that music for me. 

As the gardening went on, more and more songs that I recognize played on.  I don’t know the name of many of those tunes or even the artists, but I know a lot of the lyrics.  YA did suggest at one point that I didn’t have to sing along quite so loudly.

I did eventually thank her for playing “old mom music”.

If you can stand the 70s rock stuff, do you have a particular tune you like?

2024, Business, Food, Mysteries

The Last Straw!

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I have to admit that I am a regular at the Taco Bell drive-through.  Bean burrito with extra red sauce, Fiesta potatoes and usually a large diet Pepsi.  This is my normal order – this stop is usually if I’m out and about doing errands.  I never just leave the house to go there.

My most-stopped-at location is the one near Southdale as many of my errands have me in that neighborhood.  About four months ago I noticed that the straw that came with the diet Pepsi was very flimsy and split while I was trying to get it through the little hole on the lid, making it unusable.  If I’d been the passenger in the car, I probably could have jerry-rigged it but as the driver it wasn’t do-able.  Luckily I was on the way home.

I thought I was a fluke but the next couple of visits confirmed that they had switched to these crappy straws.  If you poke a good hole in the lid first with your finger and are VERY careful unwrapping the straw and putting into the cup, you’ll be ok but there are too many ways to screw this up.  I started taking a straw of my own re-usable straw in the car if I thought I might be hankering for a burrito but it wasn’t a perfect solution. Interesting side-note… it’s just this location.  The other location close to us hasn’t switched to the thinner option.

Last week I stopped by and realized I hadn’t brought my re-usable.  I thought about asking the drive-through guy for two straws but decided that was just too silly.  When he handed me my pop, he handed me two straws and I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing.  He laughed too and said they’re giving out two straws now because so many folks have complained.

Reminded me of when my company changed to a thinner toilet paper ten years back.  I’m sure it was cheaper but if you use twice as much because it’s so thin, I’m pretty sure the savings go out the window.  The thin tp only last a few months.  I don’t know if people complained or if they realized right away they weren’t saving money.  Or both!

I will keep bringing my re-usable straw (if I remember) but am wondering how long it will take this location to figure out that giving out two thin straws isn’t smarter than just have decent straws.

What do you drink if you splurge on fast food?

2024, animals, education, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Barn Swallows

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

The worms sure did come out after the all-day rain on Thursday. I even had some inside the doors at the theater. 

And the Barn Swallows are back! Kelly saw some on Tuesday and they immediately started hauling grass to the nest on top of the wind chimes by our front door. Pretty cool they come back and reuse the old nesting spots. We sure do enjoy hearing them chatter.

No fieldwork done in the last week since it’s been raining. I worked in the shop a bit, and I’ve been doing a lot of prep work for college Commencement next Wednesday. 

Here’s my ‘patch’ for the lighting; the document in the lighting controller that says how each light is addressed so the lighting console knows which light it’s talking to, and so I know which light is which.

 The number in the first column is how I refer to the light. The 5th column is the actual ‘patch’. Those first fixtures are 21 channels each. A channel is a parameter, for example pan, tilt, red, green, blue, intensity, zoom, strobe, ect. and a universe can handle 512 channels. Some lights are only 6 channels. Intensity, red, green, blue, white, amber. All the lights are in universe 1. The first light is address 1. (1:1) It uses 21 channels, so the next lights is also universe 1, address 22. (1:22) Repeat until all the lights are patched. If I have more than 512, I go to the next universe. This Hog console can do 4 universes. Bigger events might have dozens of universes of lighting.

Thursday I was over in the sports center hanging the lights over the stage (which I can’t get too once the stage is in place) and doing a little other prep work.

I meant to get a better picture of the lights, but the genie lift I was using wouldn’t go back up in the air. Huh. Thanks to the training I had back in Seattle in March, I knew enough to check the batteries. Three of the four were low on water. And I heard it’s had some other issues lately. Thank Goodness somebody in charge agreed we better rent another lift just in case. Both the video guys and I will be using lifts for commencement and not having one will be a problem. 

While working on lighting, I heard there was water coming into a back room. The sump pump was working, but water was coming through the floor or something. It wasn’t my concern. 

Friday, I picked up the other rental lights, and it was quiet in the sports center, the batteries have been topped up with water and recharged, and I was able to finish hanging my stuff. It should make Monday an easier day for me. I have more lights on the ground to install, but I can’t do that until the stage is set.

The overheard door to the sports Center has been broken and is scheduled to be replaced Monday. The same day EVERYTHING loads in for commencement; chairs, band equipment, food, staging, ramps, ect. And it all goes back out that door Wednesday night. 

Sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it. Or a cluster. One of the two… 

I sold some straw to the Rochester Fire Department. They add a bale to their practice fires because it makes a good amount of smoke.

Had a good talk as the two of us loaded the trailer. He said some of their ‘turn out’ gear (the typical fireman’s hat, coat, pants, and boots) need to be replaced as it’s nearing end of life. $8000 for one outfit. And the guys have a second pair to wear while the first outfit is being washed and dried after a fire. Takes 8 hours to dry, and they can’t wear if wet as they could get steam burns. The things you learn! 

Creative Writing at the college is almost over. I’ve submitted my poetry project and now the last thing dues is the final portfolio, which are revised versions of things we’ve submitted earlier in the year. When things get slow I’ll just recycle some of them here. 🙂

The chicks are doing good. They’re not afraid of an open door anymore so I have to pay attention while I’m in there filling their water and feed. The dogs are right at the door, so they’re paying attention for me.

I had 55 dozen eggs in April! Zoiks!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CONSTELLATION OR CELESTIAL EVENT?

2024, Family, Food, Gatherings, pets, Uncategorized

Cookies Galore!

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I’ve been in cookie production mode for a couple of days.

A dear friend of mine lost her husband in January; it was expected but still quite sad.  Al loved my sugar cookies.  For the last couple of years while he was in his decline, I made cookies for him every few weeks so that he could have cookies but my friend wouldn’t have to bake.  I made different kinds but the frosted sugar were always his favorites.  So for his Celebration of Life I am making them in his memory.

At the same time I am doing my spring bonnet sugar cookies for a shower this weekend as well.  My oh my – everything always falls at the same time.

I figured I’d be safe with six batches of the dough.  I made that, two batches at a time, on Wednesday.  I laid everything out ahead of time so I could whip through – only took me about 25 minutes.  The dough does need to chill for a while; that’s why I made it on Wednesday. 

Then yesterday morning I rolled out all the dough, cut all the cookies and baked them. 206 fluted squares, 16 large bonnet bases, 16 bonnet cops and 20 llama/alpaca shapes (new cookie cutters that I just got a couple of weeks back).  Took about 4 hours from set up to clean up.  No burned batches and no dog sneaking cookies off the counter, although I did have to keep a close eye on YA every time she wandered into the kitchen.

This morning, while you are reading this, I’m doing the icing and sprinkles.  All of Al’s cookies will have white icing but I’ll use a variety of sprinkles (I have plenty!).   I’ll be setting up in the living room on the card table so I can sit and watch tv while I work.  If I have time, I’ll do the llama/alpaca cookies and hopefully the bonnets.  I used a flow icing on the bonnets so they’ll be last.  If I run out of time I’ll finish the bonnets Saturday morning before the shower.

Phew!

Why couldn’t the Cookie Monster make his bed? 

2024, animals, Family, Kids

YA Appreciation Day

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Zoos and animal parks are some YAs and my favorite places to visit. Minnesota Zoo, Como Zoo, Fawn-Doe-Rosa, Carlson Llama Farm – these are our local haunts.  Zoos and animals parks are also, in my experience, the places with the highest percentage of child meltdowns around. 

YA was a very easy child (we’re just talking child here, not teenager!) so I have zero experience with a melting down child.  She abandoned the idea of the stroller by the time she was three and never looked back.  She never ran around in a zoo restaurant.  She never banged on the glass to get the attention of the spotted leopard on the other side.  She never pushed another child out of the way to get a better look at a penguin.  She never had a tantrum of any kind when we were out and about.  Never.

Over the years, YA has heard me extol her virtues as a child a lot.  Way too much from her experience.  So I work hard to keep my lips zipped because these days any time I say something I get a massive eye roll and usually an exasperated “I know”.  But it’s difficult because every visit guarantees some bad behavior on the part of children who are over-tired, over-stimulated and probably hungry to boot.  The examples in the second paragraph all happened yesterday at the Zoo. 

So I stroll along with YA, thinking to myself what a wonderful child she was and what a terrific young adult she had turned out to be, all the while saying NOTHING.  NOTHING.  I wonder if one of these days my head will just explode.

Occasionally she will let me take her picture, although sometimes bribery is involved.  The above picture cost me a trip to Dairy Queen.

What summer treat would I need to bribe you with for a photo?

2024, Food, pets, space

Strangers in the Park

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Photo credit: WTHR Indianapolis

Lots of folks have asked me why I took the road trip by myself to see the eclipse in Indianapolis.  Easy peasey – so I could do just what I wanted every single minute and not have to have anyone else’s agenda pushing up against mine.  Same reason I go to Opening Day at the State Fair by myself.

So if that means I overestimate how many insane folks will want to park in the White River State Park ramp and go WAY too early to nab my spot, it’s OK.  If I walk up and down the long row of food trucks (24 of them) twice before I decide what I want, it’s OK.  And if I talk to strangers, it’s OK (this is something in particular that drives YA crazy.)

Here are just a few of the interesting folks I met on eclipse day:

A guy from Kentucky with a very cute corgi.  He was sitting on a bench, apparently waiting for his wife – he wasn’t sure where she can gone off to.  They had decided just a couple of weeks before to make the trip; they had managed to find a room but it was about an hour out of the city.  He was also sporting an eclipse jacket and baseball cap.  Like me, he got his online.

David was one of the first food truck owners to get his truck in place; he wanted a really good view of the river on each side of the bridge from his spot.  He’s been running his food truck (assorted health food kinds of items including a vegetarian walking taco) for 20 years but he’s thinking about quitting because he want to focus more on his music and getting it published.

Two gals assembling a University of Indiana tent – turns out that the university has a new “global and local event planning” program and part of the semester was putting together the event in the park.  When I told them I was a retired planner, we commiserated for a bit and laughed at what non-planners think is involved.  Then one of the gals said “we’re not supposed to give this out until later, but I like you…” and gave me a cake pop with white and red icing (U of Indy colors).  It was yummy.

Three cops on bikes.  I’ve never seen police on bikes before and they were willing to take a few minutes to talk to me.  The officers on bikes program has been around for almost 20 years now and has been called an unqualified success.  The bikers patrol the downtown area (which includes White River Park) as well as a couple of suburbs that ring the downtown.  The officers in the program like it a lot; they say they can get around more easily that in a car and have been able to establish better relations with the community.  As the pedaled off, they all three went down a fairly long set of stairs – without a wobble!

Of course, I talked to many more people, especially folks with dogs.  Since I parked early and set out my chair about six hours ahead of time, I had a lot of leisure to connect with others.  Eclipse apparel was also a good discussion point and because of matching t-shirts I met a couple (their t-shirts matched mine) who had been in the same parking lot as me in St. Joseph, Missouri for the 2017 eclipse.  Amazing how you can connect just by talking to people!

Do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about?  Any favorite topics?

2024, Gatherings, Health, Music, Uncategorized

In Poor Taste

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Last weekend our local Opera group held a gala evening of a lovely meal and selections from various operas.

We have a surprisingly active opera group here, and they host a summer youth musical camp, as well as operas and recitals during the rest of the year. Our church choir director and her husband are very active in the group.

We didn’t attend the Gala, but heard plenty of comments about it the next day. An acquaintance of ours and her husband attended the Gala. She is a former piano instructor at the college. She and her husband also attend our church. Just before the end of the evening, our acquaintance’s husband collapsed and had to be resuscitated with CPR. He was taken to the hospital. There were several medical professionals in the audience who saved his life.

The final selection to be performed at the Gala was from one of the last acts of Carmen, in which Carmen is stabbed to death by Jose’. Our church choir director was to sing the part of Carmen. They decided that Carmen being stabbed to death just after Larry, the piano teacher’s husband, was hauled out on a stretcher would be in pretty poor taste, so they quickly ended the show.

I am happy to report that Larry survived and the Carmen selection will be performed at the next recital in the fall. This is just too much drama for our small community!

What are your favorite and least favorite endings to operas and musicals

2024, Family, Kids, sports, Travel, Uncategorized

Joy

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Husband and I are back from Boston, he at home and I in Brookings helping out son and daughter in law as they need an extra hand with home and grandson due to work demands.

We flew out of Boston yesterday to Minneapolis first, then to Bismarck and Sioux Falls respectively. While we waited for our plane in Boston we were delighted to watch the antics of a Minnesotan Special Olympics mixed gender hockey team heading back home. One of the members, a young man named John, held a rather large trophy his team had won at a hockey tournament in Boston, They took multiple photos with their coaches and parents, all so happy with what they had accomplished. It was so nice to see such joy and happiness. They looked so proud of themselves.

What joyous things have you noticed lately? What gives you joy in your day to day life?