Husband was highly gratified yesterday to get an email from a local soil scientist who works for the FPAC-NRCS office in town. That is the soil conservation branch of the US Department of Agriculture, and they work with local ranchers and farmers to promote soil and water conservation. The sender of the email had heard through the local grapevine that Husband was a passionate proponent of urban agriculture, and she needed his advice putting together some soil health teaching/demonstrations to help local urban gardeners improve their garden soil and increase their production. She explained she was new to the area and was more familiar with the soil issues of area ranchers than she was with those of urban gardeners and the peculiarities of our local urban soil. Husband replied he would be happy to help.
We are usually asked for our expert opinions by the Court regarding rather sad and troubling situations. This was a delightful change. Also delightful was figuring out how on earth she got our email. It involved a tangled pathway from former clients, the Food Pantry, a pastor of a Lutheran church we don’t attend, and the pastor’s mother in law who is one our our fellow parishioners. Living in a small town can be quite interesting.
What could you provide expert advice on? What are the informal pathways that news and information travel in your family and community?
Trail Baboon 
i had a guy call me over at costco yesterday and ask me about fertilizer and if he should put weed & feed now or wait
i told him he needed to wait until the dandelions were up we were talking about how fertilizer without weed killer should be put on first then wait for dandelions to grow
by the time we were done another guy showed up and said he was listening and he showed me a bag of scott’s on app does crabgrass feet and weed killer all in one application
i told him that was magic stuff and worked great but was real expensive
i told him 3 individual applications would be better but the scottots offering was a good one
my advice for the day
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I can provide advice on anything. And it’s free!
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Snort!
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No one knows more about everything than MEuns.
Me are a stable genius.
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I am often a go-to person for finding music we want to sing in our UU band, and I’m on the committee that chooses the music for non-band Sundays. If we can’t find the music, I can probably write down the melody and simple harmony, certainly the guitar chords if I know the song at all. It’s been useful at times…
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I’ve forgotten a lot of it over the years, but back in the day, I could tell you far more about wine, grapes, wine regions, terroir, and wine buying than you’d ever want to know.
I’m a solitary person so I don’t participate in many grapevines of social activity, but I think around here, churches, bars, coffee shops, and social clubs like the Elks and the Eagles and Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce (meetings, etc.) are the informal news dispersing channels.
Chris in Owatonna
*BSP* I’ll be at the Robert Trail Library in downtown Rosemount tonight at 6:00 doing a Meet the Author presentation (Finally! Been trying to do this for two years!) Then on Saturday, from 10-4:30, I’ll be at the Rosemount Writers Festival and Book Fair at the Steeple Center in Rosemount (next door to the library). Lots of workshops for writers or those interested in writing, plus more than 30 local authors selling their books. It’s a well-run festival so come on over and check it out. However, you need to register for the workshop sessions ($15 each), so sign up before Saturday. *end BSP*
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I got a call this morning about using video cameras and monitors for a musical. (Band back around the corner so conductor needs to be able to see and hear the actors, and they need to be able to see and hear the band. Commonly done on Broadway, not so much on local stages, but it can be hugely advantageous!) I am not an expert on that, in fact I know just enough to be dangerous. I DID tell them of the systems I’ve seen used and how they were done.
Start asking me about stage lighting and I’ll have a hard time shutting up.
Strawbale gardening, some.
Farming, Some.
Mile wide, inch deep.
As said yesterday, Advice is worth every penny you pay for it.
I’m going to post a link now, was trying to post earlier by itself and it didn’t seem to go. Maybe here:
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
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Funny! I did dig out my MN WIld t-shirt today. I do have a couple of other work shirts that have green in them, but the t-shirt is the only green-green clothing that I own.
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Green clothing is entirely optional. I don’t really have anything green either. I’m wearing my mauve dress; it’ll have to do.
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Oops, don’t know how that happened. This, I hope, is what I intended to say:
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With regard to one’s network, I was just reading this morning Van Wyck Brooks’ Days of the Phoenix where Brooks refers to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “law of spiritual gravitation”, a mystic force that brings together those who are intended to meet and at the opportune time.
It’s an intriguing notion to think about in light of the connections that have been influential or memorable to me. Did those connections mold me or were they the gravitational pull of the person I am? Living, as I have, the whole of my 70+ years in the same city and that city being one where a high proportion of its citizens are likewise life-long residents, the web of connections can be intricate and surprising.
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Today it’s my “like” button that doesn’t work. Arrrgh!
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And mine is working again, so there’s hope for tomorrow.
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Not advice but information—visual information in the form of an image: Just last week I was contacted by a person from a Boston-based production company that was putting together an exhibit for a Heidelberg museum requesting the use of one of my 1904 images. She had found it in my Flickr account, where I post them for that purpose. The Flickr images have been a source of interesting connections.
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I love those photos, Bill, and I appreciate that you have made them accessible for others to see, use, and appreciate.
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Man, Ann Margaret… sigh…
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A few days ago I stopped by my neighbor’s house to pick up a paper towel tube (upcoming craft project) and stayed for a few minutes to warm up. During our conversation he asked me if sometime this spring he could “pick my mind” about travel this summer. Considering that I’ve been in the travel industry for 30+ years, I think people are always surprised when I tell them I probably won’t be much help. They want to know about what hotels and what flights… unfortunately in my rarified incentive world, I can only tell you about $660+/night hotels and except for industry trends, I can’t tell you about flights anywhere! And I have very little domestic info to impart because almost all of my 250+ programs have been international. But if you want to know what sights to see in Cancun or Rome, just ask me!
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In keeping with my recent foray into Monty Python:
Tá m’árthach foluaineach lán d’eascanna
Happy Irish Day.
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It is also St. Gertrude ‘s Day, the patron Saint of cats.
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I thought you were kidding, but just looked it up – she’s real! (Well, she was real.)
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Do you understand all these languages, Wes??
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Wes knows all.
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…or as the Irish say,
Tá a fhios ag Wes go léir
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Tells only some.
TLGMS
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Luck o’ the Irish to ye, Baboons,
WordPress is having behavior problems today.
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test
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WP just ate my comment. Hmph.
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Who are you?
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Jacque
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I could advise you on how to do a backdoor Roth, or how to calculate the cost basis on your restricted stock units. In this group, though, I don’t think that sort of expertise in much needed.
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