All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2023, Kids, Nature, Poems, Words

Shadows

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My kitchen windows look out over my neighbors’ driveway, so I often get a front row view of the comings and goings.  Yesterday I saw the youngest (she’s almost 5) dancing with her shadow while waiting for the car to get loaded for the day.  She was completely entranced, lifting first one arm and then the other, then pointing one toe to the side followed by the opposite toe.  She shimmied and wiggled and eventually began to sing.  It was charming.

It reminded me of a favorite childhood poem, My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets to little that there’s none of hi at all.

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nurse as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleep-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

I still have this poem in The Illustrated Treasure of Children’s Literature.  There are several poems in this collection that I remember and treasure.  I didn’t have a huge number of books when I was little but this was one of them and I had my mother read to me from it quite a bit.

Do you have any favorite childhood poems?

2023, animals, home, Mysteries, pets

Doggy Dilemma

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You all know that one of my favorite parts of summer is going barefoot, or wearing zorries, which is pretty much the same as going barefoot.  If I’m dressing up I might put on one of my pairs of Birkenstocks, but that’s as much as I like to encase my feet at this time of year.

The exception is when I’m walking the dog.  I should say that I CAN walk the dog wearing zorries – my feet can handle it, but I sometimes worry that if Guinevere takes off after a squirrel or rabbit and surprises me, zorries might not be the best footwear in an emergency.  So I wear tennies. And socks.

That’s where my doggy dilemma comes into play.  Guinevere, whatever issues she may have, is pretty smart and has definitely figured out that my putting on tennis shoes almost always means she is going for a walk.  Like all dogs, she loves the walk and from the minute the shoes go on, she begins to prance around, whine and bark until her halter is on and we are out the door.  This is very annoying and it’s not something I’ve ever had to deal with in all my life with dogs.

I’ve tried putting on the shoes 15 minutes ahead of time and spending time picking up or doing dishes, but so far this hasn’t fooled her.  The minute there is a whiff of walk, she starts her impatient song and dance.   I wonder if I have to just bite the bullet and occasionally put on the shoes, hang out at home and then take them off and not involve a walk at all.  I’m pretty sure she’ll figure this out as well.

When have your pets trained you?

2023, books, Gatherings, Media, Mysteries, Stories

Six Degrees of Separation

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Today’s post comes to us from Cynthia!

“Six Degrees of Separation” is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

 I recently listened to Garrison Keiller’s “Writer’s Almanac” after many years of just reading at the printed version.  Maybe I haven’t listened since it went off the air. While listening I remember 1975 when I first discovered and loved Garrison’s radio show. We went to several of his live versions before and after it went national. But before it went national, I was visiting with a school friend and our English teacher in Cloquet. In the middle of the conversation my friend mentioned Garrison. She knew him! She had been the editor of the University of Minnesota’s monthly literary magazine, Ivory Tower in 1963 and 1964, and Garrison was her assistant editor. I was so happily astounded that I knew someone who knew him…Six Degrees of Separation!  When I finally met Garrison while working at MPR in Duluth, I asked him if he remembered her. Of course, he did. They reconnected again not too long ago. And she and I are still close friends.

 Another “Six Degree” tale to tell:

One of my favorite MPR classical music hosts was Australian Stephanie Wendt. I met her in person when she was the host of an event in Duluth and I was her “assistant.” She is also a classical pianist. She married a choral director and they moved to Sweden. We were Facebook friends and then I joined her blog where she posted beautiful photographs of where she lives. I recently asked a friend, Gunilla, who lives on the farm in Mahtowa she inherited from her uncle. She also lives and is a pastor in Sweden: “Is the town where my online friend, Stephanie, lives close to where you live?” Gunilla said, “Yes! I know Stephanie! She and her husband were just at and often are at my church!”

Do you have any “Six Degree of Separation” tales to tell?

2023, animals, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Weather

On and On It Goes

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

It rained again a bit. We got another 0.44 Wednesday morning; a nice gentle rain pretty much all morning. Is it too little too late? We wait and see.

The soybeans that didn’t germinate back in May are coming in and we are just starting to see the rows. Man, they’re gonna have to hustle to amount to anything by fall. 

The corn looks terrible; it’s just all over the place for height. I’ve seen some barely as tall as me just beginning to tassel.

And some is only knee high… I don’t know… it will be what it will be. It’s interesting on the edge of a field, the trees use so much moisture, the plants are only a couple feet tall in a patch matching the canopy of the tree. There is something called ‘Field

Edge Effect’ meaning the field edge suffers from winds or herbicides from neighboring fields. Must be nice to have huge fields with no trees around the edges.

The agronomists are saying we should still think about applying fungicide to the corn because it will actually help prevent senescence (and cannibalism) even if it stays dry. Too much science behind it to get into it, but it’s always interesting what is happening in the corn plant to create an ear!  

The oats are turning color. I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen with the oats and it’s stressing me out. I don’t expect it will have a good enough test weight to meet the requirements for human food grade, and we won’t know until we start harvest. I don’t know if ‘those guys’ are going to combine it all anyway, or if they’ll start, find out it’s crap, and bail, meaning I’ll have to get my other guy to combine. And who’s hauling it anyway? I’m working on answers to all these questions, just haven’t gotten them yet. 

We had a family reunion / potluck last Saturday. Twenty-six people attended. It was a far cry from the 50 that were there in 2007, and sad how many people we’ve lost since then. And it’s hard to get the next generation interested. I better stop before I sound like an old fart. 

I’ve had the 20′ scissor lift rented this week, so it’s all been about the shed. Added the 2×4 ceiling joists under the roof trusses, the ceiling steel will be attached to the 2×4’s. 

That went quick; however, the rental lift is being temperamental and only works when it wants too. Course it worked when the repair guy was there. 

My brother has helped, my friend Paul has helped, our son came done one day and helped and of course Kelly is always helping one way or another; moral support, ideas, helping move things, and even driving the lift.

And the teenage helper from last summer, young padawan, has come back, bringing a friend with him. Two teenage boys…I tried not to roll my eyes too hard. But they did good. When we took a break, padawan took this year’s new kid around the farm in the gator. 

They’ve all been good help. We got the last big window in, and some of the ceiling steel installed. And my brother and son were impressed with the cool tools I have; like the metal shears that attach to a cordless drill. I didn’t know it was anything fancy. 

Course I also poked myself in the thumb, twice, using a dental pick like thing while working on something. Not cool.

Black raspberries are out, and right by the shed, so they’ve been a nice snack for us.

The lift was supposed to go back Friday,but I paid an extra day to keep it over the weekend. The ceiling steel goes fast once we get going. And I need to finish sealing off the one truss to keep the birds out. Half done with that.

Once all that is done, it’s up to the contractors to do the wall insulation. I called them the other day to let them know I’m ready and to get on the schedule. I have an ‘attic access’ panel, but I wasn’t sure how much they need to get around up there. Turns out they need more than I had, so I used some old 20′ sections of pipe to make walkways in the rafters so they can get to all the corners. Use what you have available. Dad would be pleased. 

Funny story about the lift. It doesn’t take much for the battery to get weak and it won’t go up. It tries, it goes up about 6″, then stalls. Oh, it whines and makes noises, but it doesn’t go ‘up’. So, the boys would jump in the air, thereby fooling the lift about how much weight it’s lifting, and it would raise another 6″. They’d jump again, it would gain another 6″, and then it would lift the rest of the way. So stupid it was funny and it made us laugh. 

The boys also cleaned out an area next to the shed where we’ve been dumping stuff for years. They dug out some old wire, cement blocks, even bricks! No idea where the bricks came from. I need to smooth it out a bit, and it will be nice to mow in there eventually. 

I’m hoping next week to start mowing weeds. And oats will be ready soon. And I’ve got a show to light in Rochester opening 7/25 and another to light in Chatfield opening 8/4. And then I’m back at ‘work’ work 8/10. 

But let’s not get ahead of myself. 

HOW MANY CANNIBAL JOKES DO YOU KNOW? DO YOU GET RIGHT UP OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?

2023, Food, Media, Nature, Words

Peppered!

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One of my friends, Julie, is a freelance writer. She writes about a wide gamut of topics and she appears on the Eating Well site quite a bit.

Last week she penned a piece about why there aren’t ever green peppers in the multi-pepper packs you find in grocery stores. It’s a great bit (well, I think all her columns are great) and it included some fun facts about green peppers. This is quoted with her permission:

Fun Fact One: Peppers botanically are considered to be fruit, because their seeds are stored inside, but they’re culinarily considered a vegetable, like cucumbers.

Fun Fact Two: You can tell which peppers are male and female just by looking at the outside. “Males have three lobes, and females have four, sometimes five,” Schueller says. “The females produce more seeds, and that tends to make them less sweet. So if you like sweeter peppers, look for fewer lobes.”

Fun Fact Three: The peppers we call chile peppers all have spiciness, measured in Scoville units from mild to very spicy. But bell peppers don’t have any heat, and they ended up being named “bell” because a) they aren’t chile peppers and b) they’re shaped like a bell.

I had no clue that there were female and male peppers – not sure it will make me happy the next time I’m dicing up peppers for some dish.

If you’re making stuffed peppers, what do you like to put in them?

animals, Mysteries, Nature, Poems

Translation is Everything

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Last week I was looking for something online and happened upon Basho’s famous frog haiku.  I’ve seen it before but didn’t realize that this is considered on of the most famous haiku.  This is the most common translation (thanks to Harry Behn):

An old silent pond…

A frog jumps into the pond,

Splash!  Silence again.

I couldn’t’ quite think this was the best haiku ever so I dub a little deeper.  Here is actual Japanese:

Furu ike ya

kawazu tobikomu

mizu no oto

This translates literally to this:

Old pond…

a frog jumps in

water’s sound

The translation doesn’t match the 5-7-5 syllable convention, which probably explains why there are so many versions in English.  But I still couldn’t figure out why it was so popular; then I found it narrated in Japanese:

Much prettier sounding – makes more sense why it is one of his best-remembered haikus.  Too bad it isn’t as pretty sounding in English as it is in Japanese.

Do you have form over function anywhere in your life?

2023, Family, home, Kids, Travel

Luggage Conundrum

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Photo credit: Mikes-Photography

When I graduated from high school my parents gave me luggage as a graduation gift.  Matching luggage.  This was a few years before all black luggage became all the rage.   Two suitcases, one over the shoulder tote and a make-up case (although very in-aptly name in my case, since I wore next to no make-up, even back then).  I doubt my folks were predicting my eventual career in travel; back then luggage was a common gift at graduation or wedding – something you needed as you were launching yourself out into the world.  My mother also bought me a sewing machine and a few lessons to go with it.

Obviously after all these years, none of that luggage has survived.  I now have a rag-tag assortment of suitcases and bags, many of which I got as gifts from clients (leftovers from programs).  Mostly black.

YA has purchased two suitcases since she started traveling for work – and black is apparently not the color or choice these days.  Her big bag, which she uses the most, is a blue pattern thing with wheels that go in all directions, a handle and a plug in for charging her phone.  Fancy dancy.  I don’t have any problem with her suitcase EXCEPT when she gets home from a trip.  She empties it out fast enough, but then she tends to roll it out into the hallway.  Where it sits. 

Now I’m not the fastest “put your bag back in the attic” gal, so I tend to be lenient.  I also know that YA doesn’t tend to drop anything to attend to a request from her mother.  But after the last trip, the suitcase sat in the hallway for two weeks and at least three requests to put it away.  Being raised by the Queen of Passive/Aggressive, three days ago I pushed the suitcase right into the middle of YA’s doorway.  It was in the attic within an hour. 

Passive/Aggressive isn’t my favorite mode but sometimes it’s better than nagging.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself at this point!

Do you prefer hard-sided or soft-sided luggage?  Check or carry-on?

2023, Fantasy, Food, gardening, Nature

Watermelon Gone Wild?

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I knew when I planted two little watermelon seedlings in one bale that I was probably making a mistake.  While I’ve never grown watermelon before, I’ve certainly heard that it likes to spread out.  And spread out it has – it has completely overtaken the bale, spilling out over three of the four sides (I’ve been pushing it away on the 4th side where the cherry tomato plant is trying to hold it’s own).

You know me, had to google “watermelons gone wild” to see what funny stuff was out in cyberspace.  The first thing I discovered is that the comedian Gallagher, who was famous for smashing watermelon, passed away last year. I remember thinking he was hysterical back in his heyday.   Here is a clip with more smashing and less talking:

I also googled watermelon books.  There are a lot of kids’ watermelon books; none of them seemed all that exciting to me.  I did find Moons of Jupiter by Alice Munro with big watermelon slices on the cover.  Can’t find anything online that explains this so I requested the book from the library.  We’ll have to see.

But the biggest watermelon issue for me is the logistics.  If we get even a lukewarm harvest, what the heck are we going to do with all this watermelon? There are just two of us and I expect we’ll also be busy eating tomatoes at the same time. 

Any good watermelon books?  How about recipe for using up watermelon?

2023, animals, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Weather

Cooler Weather

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The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

The header photo are some of the wildflowers on the CRP ground. It’s looking good. 

I’m really liking this week of cooler weather. Especially as I plan to spend the next week installing a ceiling in the shop and working 15 feet in the air of a tin building.

We’re at 1375 growing degree units, about 265 GDU above normal. On Monday night, July 3, we got 3/4 of an inch of rain. It was a nice gentle rain. It soaked in fast and Tuesday afternoon, when Kelly and I took our gator date drive around the fields, the surface was already dry. It hasn’t really improved anything yet; grass is still pretty brown, the corn is uneven, (although the leaves have opened up, simply because it’s not so hot), but the beans haven’t filled in yet nor grown much. And we’re gonna need more rain than that to keep it going. But it sure was helpful and by Friday there was some more seeds almost sprouting.

The dang deer eating what is there doesn’t help . 

Cutting some grass Wednesday night, it sure did stir up a lot of dust.

Work on the machine shed continues. Every week another trip to Menards where I save big money while spending more. More screws, caulk, foam sealant, metal cutting blades, more screws, on and on it goes.  I rented a 20-foot scissor lift and picked that up on Friday. I’ve got it until next Friday. I’ve got two of the three windows installed.

 I’ve begun removing some of the old Electrical stuff. Keeping a few outlets but taking down a lot of them and will be replacing a lot of lights.

An order of lumber and pole barn steel was delivered, steel for the ceiling, but not the walls yet, and some steel to close off one of the rafters to keep the birds out of the newly remodeled shop end. The lumber is to frame the ceiling and line the walls after insulation. 

I moved our five guineas to a bigger pen. One of them is certainly going to be a troublemaker. At least once a day, if not twice a day, he flies up over their 5-foot fence. They’re a month old, I didn’t expect them to be flying quite so well, yet. The other day he went over two 5-foot fences and was perched on top of a 7-foot screen door on the baby chicken side. If he decides to hop down and venture out into the real world, I can’t protect him anymore. He’s only pigeon sized. Not big enough to defend himself yet. 

I finally took down the 5’ fence. Four of the five guineas were on the other side anyway. You may as well take the whole side, why don’t you. Pretty soon I may as well let the little chickens and little guineas run together. 

I spent a few hours on Monday hiding in the AC of the tractor and using the grapple to pick up the tree trimmings and some other stuff. It was pretty fun.

My tractor snack lately has been life savers. Individually wrapped, so at least they don’t all melt and stick together in one big glob.

WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES? WHO DO YOU KNOW WITH ‘BEDROOM EYES’?

100 Words, 2023, Automotive, Family, Mysteries

Nun Fun!

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On the way home from Fawn-Doe-Rosa last week, YA and I decided to take a detour to go to the Dairy Queen in Osceola.  While we were waiting to have our order handed to us, an SUV full of nuns turned into the parking lot.  They pulled to the other side of the building so we didn’t get to see if they all got out of the car, but it was a funny sight.

Of course nuns can go to Dairy Queen if they wish, you just don’t think of soft-serve as a religious habit. 

Have you seen anything that struck you as funny recently?