2026, Art, Farming Update, Nature, Songs, Theatre, Uncategorized

Ya Varmint!

47 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

The coyotes start howling at 4AM. That gets Bailey barking which gets Luna barking ad running around inside the house. Soon as we step outside Bailey runs over to us, like ‘The coyotes are out there!’ It sure does disturb our sleep.

I’m not gonna talk about the fact it’s almost March. I have had so much stuff going on lately I can’t remember when I get out if I’ve turned the car off. One day I restarted the car when I opened the door. The next day I got out while the car was still running.

Last Friday was a student potluck at the college for my boss, Jerry, who will be retiring in May. There were students from the last 20 years and it was really good to talk with them and see them again.

One traveled from New York, and one came in from South Korea.

She who traveled furthest.

Last Saturday I took a friend to Red Wing. I thought it was just gonna be a quick drop off and home again. Not so much. Too much to get into, but it took the whole day.

Sunday…I don’t even know what was Sunday. I guess I did some stuff. 

Monday we had a touring show come through the college. A quick easy one woman show called ‘The Gun Show’.  It was written in 2007 by E.M. Lewis and presented both sides of the gun debate. The character in the show grew up in Oregon, everybody hunted, her brothers were in the military. Then Her husband shot himself and the one line that sticks out, she says “I don’t want to take all your guns away. But I sure wish I would’ve taken his gun away.” Gut punch.

Tuesday morning the Rochester Symphony had two concerts at one of the local high schools. Fourth graders from all around the area attended. It was a great way to get the kids interested in classical music and they learned how different instruments work. Then the superintendent of the Rochester Schools narrated Peter and the Wolf. It was a nice event to work.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a meeting that I had with Soil & Water and all the projects we were planning for the farm. Three of the technicians came out to the farm on Wednesday with their GPS survey stick and we looked at five different areas. The main project that started all this; filling in a gully in the pasture, involves a spring that tends to run all winter, and I wanted to make sure they had the right idea for that. And it was good to look at it because we changed it a few things. It was decided we need to add a tile for the springs to control that water while not holding back water that might come from further uphill as part of a different project. 

We talked about adding grass headlands in two spots, filling in another gully that I hadn’t even thought about, and we talked about what shrubs to plant for a wind break. The dogs got a lot of exercise running all over the farm.  Poor Humphrey was pooped out. He was ready to go home, and our last stop was only about 100 yards from the house and I figured they would go home. But of course, that’s when daughter left for her walk and the dogs all have FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out, so off they went. Eventually I went and picked them up on the road and brought them all home.

I offered daughter a ride but she insisted she was fine. Later, after she did get home, she was kind of wishing she had taken a ride. The wind was a bit cool.

A tree company was out on Wednesday and cut down the last of those dead ash trees.

It sure looks different down there.

Thursday night I had an event at the college for what’s called the P-Tech program. It’s for the public school kids in grade 8-12 to attend classes at the college. A cooperative program between public and private, IBM and Mayo Clinic also contribute. The classes focus on IT or healthcare. It gives the kids a good headstart on college.

Saturday this week is technical rehearsal for a show at the Rochester Repertory Theatre called “Perfect Arrangement“ by Topher Payne.

Set in the 1950s during the red scare, this is the lavender scare. I read the script several months ago and it’s so frustrating to think they thought none of this would matter in 20 years and here we are 70 years later still fighting about it.

It’s a good cast, and the director has a good handle on it. It’s staged like an old TV show from the ‘50s. Bright expressions and brightly lit and one character turns to the audience and says ‘I used Foster’s Furiture Creme. There’s no waxy residue!”. I expect to see a sparkle flash and hear a ‘TING’ as she says that. That show opens on March 5.

There’s an online auction of farm machinery starting on February 28 in Plainview. I saved a handful of items to watch. I’m sure I won’t be able to afford any of it and it’s always fun to window shop.

There’s a big parts sale at John Deere on March 4 and 5th. Certain things like digger shovels and tractor filters might be on sale throughout the whole month, but then everything else is on sale those two days.

I have a list for shopping.

Speaking of old TV, I heard on the 1940’s radio station, Count Basie’s version of the song, ‘Open the Door Richard’. Course, my first knowledge of that phrase is the Bugs Bunny cartoon with Bugs and Yosemite Sam on a high diving board. Bugs has a door up there and Sam pounds on it yelling “OPEN THAT DOOR!” then turns to the camera and says, “You notice I didn’t say, ‘Richard’?” (I just learned, Sam’s mouth moved from inside his beard to under his beard for easier animation).

I remember in the 1980’s and VCRs were just coming out and I’d stand up on the second floor of Dayton’s in Rochester and watch old cartoons on a TV / VCR with a bunch of little kids. I was 18.

“Notice I didn’t say Richard!”

And all those voices by Mel Blanc!!

FREE CHOICE TODAY!

TALK ABOUT PEOPLE DOING VOICES.

HOW MANY VOICES CAN YOU DO?

FAVORITE OLD CARTOONS?

RED / LAVENDER SCARES?

100 Words, 2026, books, gardening, Uncategorized

I’ll Pass, Thank You

40 Comments

Laugh. Snort. Guffaw. Giggle. Hoot. Chortle. Snigger. Cackle. Titter.  OK, out of synonyms.

I got an email yesterday that says my work has been noticed and inviting me to apply for the 2026 Who’s Who in America.  Now I’m pretty good at some things and I was very good at my job before I retired but nothing that I think merits inclusion on any published list. 

If I were to be remembered for anything it would be for my parties, my Ukrainian eggs, my gardens, my cards.  Pretty sure that Who’s Who doesn’t give a rip about any of that.

If I’m publishing a Baboon Who’s Who – what would you like listed under your name?

2026, animals, Family, pets, Uncategorized

CDS

37 Comments

The CDS (Cat Distribution System) is working its way in our family this month.

A couple of weeks ago our daughter in Washington State told us about this cat that suddenly appeared on the second floor deck of her apartment. She is on the top floor of her building. The cat had descended from the roof. It hung around on her deck for a while and then climbed back on the roof. Daughter put out a cushion for it to sleep on. She didn’t see it again, though.

The cat made another appearance outside the front door of her apartment a couple of days ago. The apartments are all accessable from the outside stairs. He was crying and wanting inside the apartment next door, but no one answered when Daughter knocked. She let the facility management know, and then put out water for him, which he drank. He let her a little nearer to him him and seemed to want love and pets. Her next goal is to get him into a carrier and have him checked by a vet for a microchip. He is a longer haired tortoiseshell.

Daughter already has two cats, but the way she talks about her visitor makes me think she will keep him if she can. Husband, Son, Daughter in law, and I were all on the texts about this cat, all of us hoping she could catch and keep him or else find his people. Almost all of our cats have been rescues from town or from Daughter’s best friend’s ranch in the ND Badlands. Son found our cat, Luna, under a deck in Brookings as an abandoned kitten nine years ago. Our first cat in ND just showed up at our front door one Halloween, and we took her in. Son considered getting a purebred Maine Coon as his next cat until he realized they cost a couple of thousand dollars. Cat rescue is best. Even better is when a cat chooses you!

What animals have you rescued? Favorite cat songs and art? How do you feel about cats as pets?

2026, education, Gatherings, Uncategorized

Fifty

21 Comments

I just received notice that my 50th High School Class Reunion will held next September. Current plans are to meet at a local pub/brewery one night, and then at The Lake, aka the Old Creamery Pond, the next night for a bonfire and gathering.

We were a class of about 190. I have no idea how many of us are left. I missed the reunion 10 years ago as we were just getting back from a trip to Europe with our kids. I haven’t run into any former classmates who live in town since we moved here, although I know there are a few. I have encountered a couple of our very aged, but hale, former high school teachers. Our soon to be housemate is a classmate. The local paper makes a big deal over reunions and takes group photos of celebrating classes.

I am so curious to see how everyone has aged, and if we recognize each other. I am also curious how much longer the poor souls who have been in charge of planning these get togethers are going to be sufficiently healthy and willing to continue doing so in ten more years.

Have you attended any high school reunions? If so, tell how they went. If why not?

2026, Family, Food, home, Uncategorized, Weather

Blizzard Fare

21 Comments

I have been reading with some amusement and sympathy for our East Coast fellow citizens dealing with the reality of snowstorms. I can’t imagine having to manage something like that with no experience. It would be like me having to prepare for and sit through a hurricane.

I was very tickled by the NYT cooking site yesterday posting a number of recipes titled “Cooking For The Storm”. If you have to stay in you might as well cook, was their attitude. They highlighted lots of filling soups, pastas, and stews. There was no mention of making a mad dash to the store for provisions, however.

My mother was a very dedicated Grade 3 teacher who didn’t like to cook. If we had to stay at home due to bad weather she always made rather complicated waffles that called for the eggs to be separated and the whites beaten into a meringue and folded into the batter. I absolutely loved them. We called them “Blizzard Waffles”, and I made them for years until I moved on to Husband’s sourdough discard waffles. They are the best.

In our ND town, the minute bad weather was predicted the main grocery store would be overrun with customers stocking up before the storm hit. I have yet to experience this in our MN town, but I imagine it is the same here.

Husband and I seem to go to the grocery store every day for one thing or another, but in a pinch we could manage for weeks with what we have in our fridge, freezers, and pantry. As long as the power stays on and the larder is full, how fun to be snowed in!

Quick! A blizzard is coming! How will you prepare? What do you need to get at the store? Any advice forEasterners on how to deal with the snow?

2026, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Family Resemblances

33 Comments

It has been nice since moving to our new town to run into people I remember from growing up here. One comment I hear from many people is “You sure look like your mother!” That sits ok with me, although I hope their memories of her are from decades before she died at age 91. I know the move has taken its toll, but I hope I don’t look ancient.

A photo of me at age one year shows me looking a lot like my dad. As I aged, my face grew less round and more elongated. Now I look like my mother’s side of the family, especially my Hamburg great grandmother’s family. The women were tall. My mother’s mother was 6 feet tall. My dad was several inches shorter than my mom, and I hit the mean in between their heights.

Our children look like my side of the family, but with Husband’s curly hair. Flat feet run in both my and Husband’s families. Both our children inherited that. Both are tall (Daughter is 6’1”, and Son is 6’4″). Our grandchildren resemble their East Indian mother, although both are going to be quite tall. Son lamented that he looks like the 16th century Dutch guys in the paintings in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Sometimes you can’t escape your genetics.

Who do you look like? What traits have you inherited?

2026, Business, chickens, crops, education, Farming Update, Gatherings, Nature, Science, Uncategorized

AN OAT-STANDING DAY* 

65 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

You know, it was so warm last week, it was so freaking muddy. It was terrible. And I know it’s gonna happen the next time it warms up again. But that’s next month’s problem!

I’ve always found it interesting the clumps of snow and ice that accumulate on the far side of railroad crossings. When a vehicle hits a bump like that and the ice chunks fall off and skid up the road a ways. Newton’s first law about an object in motion I think. It’s kinda cool to me.

Wednesday this week I went to an oat producers meeting. Got another really good free meal! 

It was a very good meeting. Lots of good speakers and interesting topics. I did critique the font of one guy’s slides… I’m such a snob. The meeting started at 10:00, and people wandered in for another hour. And it reminded me how hard it was to get anywhere before about noon  when milking cows and doing chores in the winter. Feed the beef cows, feed the dairy cows, milk, chase the beef out of the yard, let the dairy cows out of the barn, clean the barn, haul out the manure, throw down hay from the haymow, spread out straw bedding, spread out the hay, and put the cows back in when they’re done eating outside. It all took a while. 

Excuse me, can you keep your heads down…

There were 159 farmers in attendance (because the host said now she knew how long it took to get 159 people through the line for lunch.) 

One guy kinda looked like Robert Duvall. 

I wore a peach colored shirt. I was the most colorful person there. A lot of plaid and dark colors. And a fair number of women at this meeting too. 

It was mentioned that 26% of the farmers in Olmsted County planted cover crops last, involving 20,000 acres. 

As one speaker went through his slides, he’d show a field of oats and call out ‘Eye candy!’

*He’s also the guy that said it was an ‘Oat-standing day’.

I saw them in concert back in 1984 just to impress a girl. I Broke up with her anyway.

Several of the speakers, and many of the farmers, are growing a few hundred acres of oats. They talk about their 40’ air seeders and stripper heads for oats and growing 140 bushel / acre oats and I sit there quietly with my 30 acres, and 40 bushels / acre and think ‘You don’t have any deer do you?’ I asked a question if anyone is dragging their oat fields. Crickets. One speaker finally said they do no-till planting. Oh. yeah meaning they don’t have bare dirt like I do. Several said that. One of the benefits of no-till, is being able to get out and plant in March without needing to wait for the ground to warm up and dry out to do tillage before planting, like I do. 

Several of these farmers are responsible for the surge in oat growers. They’re the founders of the oat mafia.

One guy shared his spreadsheet for his crop input and expenses. If input costs are going to be high, and crop prices are going to be low, then we hope for high enough yields to make up the difference. One example was a 1400 acre farm. If he does 700 acres corn and 700 acres beans, expenses will be this much, income theoretically this much, and they’re losing money. However, if they do 466 acres corn, 467 acres bean, and 467 acres oats, they can make some money. Oats cost less than corn to produce. Remember, less yield or a thunderstorm or a lower price and it’s all out the window. 

Jochum Wiersma, from the U of M is always a good speaker. He’s from the Netherlands, and he’s got a bit of an accent, and he is funny, and a very intelligent good speaker. He asked the group if we thought farming was more like NASCAR or a European Rally race? Obviously, a rally. “NASCAR is all left turns, you always know what’s coming.” If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. That’s why farming and raising oats is all about managing risk. 

I took home several good lessons. My crop rotation has been soybeans, corn the next year, then oats the next. Repeat. I do it that way because soybeans add nitrogen to the soil meaning I spend less on nitrogen for the following corn crop. When our son was in high school, he did a report for some class, comparing corn after oats and corn after soybeans. Surprisingly, the corn after oats did better. and I don’t really recall when or why I changed up the rotation order, but it was said several times, DO NOT PLANT OATS AFTER CORN, it’s more susceptible to crown rust disease. And maybe that’s why my oat crop has been so lousy lately. So, we’ll try planting oats on the fields that were soybeans last year. 

I cut down a bunch of dead Ash trees last Saturday. Thirty years ago, I planted two rows of ash trees and some arborvitae shrubs, hoping to create a windbreak in which I planned to put calf hutches on the south side. It turned out to be a pretty wet area. All the arborvitae died off a few years later. The ash trees got to be 40′ tall and were kind of a pain to mow around, now they’re all dead from Emerald Ash borer. There’s a few I’m waiting for a tree company to take down as they’re too close to the feed storage building for me to cut down. I left the stumps about two feet tall for the moment. I’ll trim them off at ground level this summer. 

Using the tractor and loader I was pushing the trees into a pile, and that’s when a tree branch rolled around the inside of the rear tire rim and snapped off the valve stem. Have I mentioned the chloride fluid I have put in the rear wheels for additional weight and traction? It sprays out when you break off the valve stem. My friends at Appel Service and $650 fixed that on Monday. I put the grapple bucket on the loader and picked up the rest of the trees to move them.

I need to remember, a tractor is not a bulldozer.

That worked much better. Until I got the tractor I over a stump. Not really sure how I did that. Bent a shield underneath…

I parked the tractor in the shop and let it dry off and warm up for a couple days, then I rolled under with wrenches and removed the shield. Trying to bend the shield enough to reach the bolts and I remembered Newtons third law: me on a rolling creeper pushing against a larger tractor…doesn’t move the shield, it moves me. An equal and opposite reaction! SCIENCE!

I’ve had chickens living in the garage again. I chased three out of the rafters one evening. The chickens hop from one rafter to another, and the dogs got all riled up and daughter thought the whole thing was hysterical. 

Chicken!

TALK ABOUT LEARNING TO RIDING A BIKE.

TALK ABOUT BIRDS / THINGS YOU’VE SEEN PERCHED IN ODD PLACES

2026, Computers, Family, Government, home, Media, Uncategorized

Approach/Avoidance

39 Comments

Yesterday Husband and I successfully closed out a small retirement account he has had for years. The occasion marks a finale in business actions we have been deluged with for the past 14 months.

When I say “we” I really mean “me” since I am the one who has handled the bulk of address changes, registrations, and monetary decisions needed with our retirements and move. I am so sick of dealing on-line and over the phone with faceless beings, automated “helpers”, and pressing the needed number on the phone keypad to get my work done.

For some reason I was dreading this final transaction more than any of the others. I kept putting it off, finding more pressing things to do instead. It left me sleepless, and gave me bad dreams. I think the issue was that Husband had to do the bulk of the work on the phone, and that left me feeling out of control. I really didn’t want the control, but that is the essence of anxiety, I think. I am a master of avoidance.

Yesterday’s transaction went without a hitch. I am so relieved! Now it is just a matter of getting everything to our accountant to do our taxes. All I need to do is mail it, since I collected everything needed. My new task is to find the next thing I need to worry about.

What are you avoiding? What makes you anxious?

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2026, Food, Health, Nature, Uncategorized

Go Fish

23 Comments

One benefit of living in the oil patch in ND was found in our local grocery store. To entice oil workers who came up from Lousiana and other southern states, the Cashwise store made a point of having a wide variety of very fresh and frozen seafood.

I don’t care at all for oysters or shrimp (shrimp is no better than eating mice, in my opinion) but the cod, salmon, lobster, clams, mussels, halibut, and crab were wonderful. I especially came to like Chilean Sea Bass.

I am somewhat disappointed with the seafood choices around our new town. The local grocery store has no fresh fish. The larger stores in Sioux Falls are better, but no sea bass. When did tilapia become so popular? I like to make a North German Fischgulash with cod or sea bass, shellfish, and scallops. The sea bass makes it particularly good.

Tuesday Husband and I made a quick SF grocery run and went to a specialty gourmet grocery and there was sea bass! I bought 3 pounds of filets and they are all safely frozen.

Our town had an ice fishing derby for kids and adults on February 14 at a spring-fed pond in town. It was 60° but the ice was 10 inches thick. They hauled out pounds and pounds of crappie, bluegill, perch, and carp. I am not sure if it was catch and release or if some of them were kept and eaten. I won’t eat freshwater fish because of all the contaminants in the ponds and lakes. The seafood I eat is probably not much better, but I can only hope.

Who is the pickiest eater you know? When was the last time you went fishing? What is your favorite fish to eat?

2026, Art, books, crops, Food, History

Spice of Life

37 Comments

I’m having fun churning through a bunch of “listicle” books in preparation for Blevins.   Shipwrecks, Nellie Bly, plants, more plants and Phineas Fogg.

The latest is The History of the World in 100 Objects, which was a BBC radio show awhile back.  I found the CDs through Interlibrary Loan and it’s prodigious – 20 discs!  It comes with a pamphlet that have 100 teeny little black and white photos of the items.  Luckily I was able to find a website that has nicer photos of the objects, so I’ve been keeping that open while I listen to the CDs.

It’s well done – not nearly as stuffy as I was expecting – and I’m enjoying it, although I’m having to keep at it since you can’t renew ILL items.

All the items are in the British Museum, including a statue of Chicomecoatl, the Aztec of Goddess of Maize and Sustenance.  The narration starts out with an overview of food having a divine role throughout history and then moves on to the history of maize, the plant it derives from and where it grows (just about everywhere).  Then came this funny bit:

“But crucially, maize is a rich carbohydrate that gives you a rapid energy hit.  But it is, let’s face it, pretty stodgy, and so from very early on, farmers also cultivated an ingenious – and tasty – accompaniment, the indigenous chili.  It has virtually no nutritional value but, as we all know, it’s uniquely able to liven up dull carbohydrates – and it shows that we’ve been foodies for as long as we’ve been farmers.”

I laughed out loud especially since I had just added a slug of frozen poblanos to a dish I had made about an hour before.  Now I want to go to Penzey’s to see if they have any good chili mixtures.

Do you have any “go-to” spices?