GEESE AND DRAGONS

Happy Halloween!

I saw a post that other day titled “How to survive Absolute chaos- Advice from a goose.” Turns out there’s a lot of advice from a goose out there if you look for it. Talk about a rabbit hole.

But here’s a few that I plagiarized. I mean I am sharing:

The Core Tenets of Goose Wisdom

Let them be wrong: Do not waste energy debating people who are committed to misunderstanding you.
Honk once: Express your frustration or boundaries clearly, then move on without over-explaining yourself like you are in a court. (I like this one)
Exit dramatically: Walk away mid-sentence if someone is testing your patience.
Remain Delusionally confident: Do I have a plan? No. Do I know where I’m going? Also no. Am I walking like I own the village? Absolutely.
Stop overthinking: Made a mistake? Embarrass yourself? It’s fine. I once screamed at a traffic cone. We all have our moments.
Lower your expectations: Not every day needs to be productive. Yesterday I stood in a puddle for 3 hours. Accomplished nothing. Absolutely magnificent day.
Celebrate small wins: Got out of bed? Brilliant! Had a little snack? Fantastic! Make it through Tuesday without fighting a garbage bin? Personal growth.
Go at your own pace: Some days you fly. Some days you waddle. Some days you stand in a field looking like you’ve forgotten why you’re there. All personally acceptable.
Accept the unexpected: Plans gone wrong? Never mind. I once followed a tractor for 40 minutes. No idea where it was going. Best afternoon of my life. (I may have done this one)
Final Goose Rule: Life is far too short to have everything figured out. Have a little waddle. Cause a minor inconvenience. Eat some grass. Tomorrow is another day.

Isn’t life like that? It sure feels like it’s just rushing and scurrying. It is just relentless!

Last Saturday Kelly and I went to a wedding at the Van Dusen Mansion in Minneapolis.

George Van Dusen is buried in Rochester.

Then we saw the Vikings play on Sunday. Daughter stayed with son and DiL. The wedding had reserved a block of rooms at a very nice hotel in downtown Minneapolis. We planned on walking to the stadium but Sarah, driving a pedicab appeared and she took us to the stadium. It was fun! And the game; SO MANY PEOPLE! And so much to look at. I was often distracted. Kelly says the Vikings did win.

We returned home on Sunday evening and the dogs were glad to see us. The next morning a neighbor sent me a trailcam picture of Bailey and Humphrey half a mile from home, carrying a deer leg. Humphrey has a sensitive stomach and does not handle carrion well. The next morning daughter had a GI bug. One of those that causes multiple washes of the bedding. Then Humphrey, uh, ‘brought up’ a large pile of deer guts. In Kelly’s office. Thank goodness (for me) I had already left for work. Kelly was rather dis-pleased. And then later, while I was at rehearsal, Luna brought her meal back for seconds. Quite a contrast to our weekend.

I sold some straw bales. And took a little time to get the bales out of the wagon from the hayride, put the wagon away, then cleaned a little bit more down around the barn where I tore out the fence. That was the extent of my farming for the week.

I talked with neighbor Craig about corn harvest and they’re having a tough time because so much corn has broken off and was blown down from that September 2nd wind storm. Trying to harvest that is slow going. One neighbor told me he’s going sideways across the rows just trying to get it to feed in. Thankfully, my corn is still standing pretty well. Luck or different varieties, hard to say. I did hear that one brand of corn seemed to go down more than others. And just yesterday saw a video saying the outside rows of a field, being exposed to the wind all season, develop sturdier stalks. Whereas the inside rows, being sheltered, are more brittle. And once exposed at harvest, it’s possible they’ll break off between one round and the next. Hopefully they get to my corn soon. Sure are lucky with the weather, I’d like it to hold until I can finish doing fall tillage.

It has been tech week at the college, and our fall play, ‘Dragons Love Tacos’ opens Saturday. Long days and evening rehearsals. School shows twice a day next week, but evenings home!

(BTW, if you’re interested, there are A LOT of songs about Taco’s according to Josiah, our director and music designer. Many are inappropriate for a kids show. The things you learn!)

Home to work on music homework. Music Intervals are killing me! It’s just not sinking in. I can count the number, it’s the major and minor that’s confusing me. The teacher is doing her best with me… I think she’s rolling her eyes every time I come in. It’s too late to audit the class rather than letter grade. Hmmm. We shall see. Chords next. I wonder how that will go? THEN maybe fieldwork!