As of Sunday morning, I am re-retired! Although I’m doing a few hours a week of finish-up, my programs ran last Friday and Saturday and were a big hit, so I’m done. Phew.
I knew before I went to bed Saturday night that one of my treats to myself would be a trip to Gertens. YA and I got most of our plantings already (we’re big Bachmans supporters) but there were just a couple of things we still needed. I slept in, had a late breakfast and then headed out. I knew that it would be crowded; it was a gorgeous morning and the first nice weekend day we’ve had to far this “spring”. And I was correct, it was very crowded; even the overflower parking lot across the street was full, with folks waiting for others to leave in order to snag their parking spot. It felt as if everybody in the Twin Cities was there shopping. All 12 outdoor cashier kiosks were open with lines at each one and the place was crawling with customers and employees. I saw at least four different young men retrieving carts from all over the place.
I only needed plants for 3 baskets, including Dragonwing Begonias (which I adore) and I also wanted to check out raspberry canes. The winter was not good to our canes and I thought I’d get a pot to fill in a sparse spot.
As you can see from the photo, I came away with much more than I intended. A pretty yellow peony, a beautiful dark purple iris and two dual-color dianthus jumped onto my cart while I was pushing it around. And the raspberry canes looked good, so got three pots instead of one. I texted YA to say I shouldn’t be allowed to go to Gertens by myself!
Any places you are too tempted by to go by yourself?
Baboons, meet Phoebe our Corgi puppy. We are getting to know her. Corgi puppies are reputed to be terrors, and that would be true of this puppy. She is now 9 weeks old. Ever curious, she gets into all possible crevices and under and behind furniture. Her little hind end is really cute sticking out of whatever trouble she has just found. When I let her come outside with me to “help” me garden, she discovered digging. She also appears to be a food-driven dog, stealing Bootsy’s food at every opportunity. She is smart. She is learning to ring the dog bells at the front door, and already gets that anytime she is outdoors, she should do her potty duty.
The morning frenzy is a challenge. When I get up in the morning she wants to be fed, to be petted and cuddled, sit on my lap, bark and yip. And bite. This dog’s baby teeth are razor sharp resulting in little cuts and abrasions on our hands. A short walk down the block and back seems to help a lot.
Bootsy, the elder Corgi, seems to have recovered from the deep offense of this puppy moving in, graduating to sniffing and stealing the puppy’s chew bones, then hoarding them on the couch. At least I know where to find them. She also makes forays into the dog bed we acquired for Phoebe. Bootsy had her own which she snubbed for years. She is making friends with the puppy.
She is fun and challenging in the manner of puppies. The neighbors are noticing her and come to play and admire Phoebe, too.
I heard the song the House of the rising Sun on the radio the other day. Why is that song so cool, so iconic? I know it’s about avoiding a life gone wrong, but it’s so fun. I love that guitar opening, the organ, the rhythms, and the harmonies. And there are so many bad covers of it. (Dolly Parton? Really? Really. Her version is barely recognizable.)
A busy week again. I did finally get concrete in my shed. It’s going to be awesome. We thought it would be last Thursday. Thursday turned into Friday turned into Monday turned into Tuesday and finally Wednesday before concrete actually showed up, but I have cement! Thursday they checked it out, Friday they excavated all the dirt. Monday rock was delivered and they moved that inside and packed it and put rebar in place. Nothing on Tuesday and then concrete delivered on Wednesday. Two trucks, 18.5 yards. Thursday they came back and took the forms off and backfilled the dirt. And Friday, yesterday, they plan to cut the lines in it. I shouldn’t drive a tractor on it for at least two weeks while it fully cures. Concrete is a fascinating material. Magnesium trowels smooth it out, but steel trowels bring the paste to the top. I don’t understand why that is. They had to go rent a power trowel and they bought a soft cut saw. They have a lot of this equipment, it’s just down in Florida, where the boss is starting a second branch. Business is good in the Concrete world.
Barn swallows came back on May 2. The sandhill cranes have been around again. The pheasant is still strutting his stuff. All of those things remind me of Steve.
And unfortunately, the coyotes are back too. Bailey had a good eye out early one morning, and Kelly got a shot at one of them. Surprising, the coyotes ran a half a mile away, and made a second attempt. I fired again just to scare them off, too far away to think I could actually hit one. The dogs spent quite a while following the scent. The next day, the dogs chased them away again before they got so close and they haven’t come back since then. Yet. Good dogs, good dogs. Extra treats for you.
Kelly got a sore throat last Tuesday which turned into Covid by Thursday. A few days later I got a sore throat, but I’m still testing negative and other than a runny nose and cough, I’m doing OK. Thankfully. I have things to do. And I’m starting to get a complex. Back in 2019 I got through commencement and then I got cellulitis on my leg and spent a week in the hospital and wasn’t allowed to get in the tractor for a month. And then, of course, last year and everything. I’m starting to think it is commencement that messes me up. I didn’t have any issues in 2020 or 2021 when we didn’t have commencement ceremonies or any of this spring business.
I put the outdoor faucet back on the well house and hooked up the hoses so it’s a little easier watering the chickens. This week at the college was the concert, just the one on Thursday night. Because band rehearsal is Monday and Wednesday and choir rehearsal is Tuesday and Thursday, I never see a full rehearsal of both groups so I have to make up a lot of stuff as I’m going. It’s just the way it is. Educated guesses are helpful. This is nothing new…it’s been the norm for a few years. But at least I don’t go to my office after the show and pout anymore. Or come home and drink.
Next week Monday and Tuesday is set up for commencement. Wednesday morning is l nurse pinning ceremony on the commencement stage, and that evening is the regular college commencement. It all comes down Wednesday night and Thursday I’ll see what else I can find to do. Takes me a few days to get everything put away at the college theater.
Haven’t had any ducks now for a while, even the two males that I had flew away I think. Chickens seem to be doing OK but they have started hiding eggs in random places so my daily collection is down. I have to check all the corners and dark places to see if there are eggs hiding in random places.
Still have seven guineas. Baby chicks will arrive June 1.
The oats finally started to appear on Wednesday when the temps got up to 60°. Finally getting that green haze that makes me so excited. Whew. Sure is nice to see it growing and know I didn’t screw it up.
Got the snow fence down one day. It was kinda fun; between my knee and shoulder, the snow fence has been a pain. Literally.
Watching corn prices, it’s been over $6 / bushel since last fall, and usually drops in the spring as this year’s crop acres are predicted. I had 2000 bushels in storage from last fall. I sold that this week; missed the highest price, but it’s sure better than when corn was $3 / bushel. Predictions for this year’s crops are 91.99 million acres of corn and 87.51 million acres of and the “experts” say they’re not worried about the late spring in the northern states.
I see a few people cutting grass. That’s coming next.
I’ve done some fieldwork with my tractor buddy Bailey, and I’ve got the planter ready to go.
The co-op spread corn fertilizer late Thursday so I can start planting corn if the weather cooperates on Friday. Between my three meetings and a show Friday night.
I’m having a very busy week with both my programs running (one today, one tomorrow); several trips to the office have been required, including most of today at the warehouse and all of tomorrow at the warehouse. This is stressing me out.
To keep myself somewhat balanced I’m trying to keep up with my reading; reading is my #1 de-stressor. Currently I’m reading Boys in the Boat (actually listening on CD and hoping I actually finish by Blevins), a biography of Shirley Jackson, The Dark Queens about Brunhilde and Fredegund in the 6th century, finally got started on John Dyer’s Illusion of Gravity (John is an occasional baboon) and then Wolverine’s Daughter by Doranna Durgin that I picked up for $2.50 in a bookstore in Nashville last October. A nice mix of genres so that at any given minute I can pick up something that seems the best of soothe me.
As you can see from the photo, Nimue likes to help me read, especially if I’m sitting on my bed when I read!
Several years ago, YA came home with an unpainted plywood birdhouse; I don’t even remember where she found it. It sat for a couple of years before she dragged out some of my paints and made cheery design in bright colors. Then it sat for a couple more years until I put a layer of marine varnish on the outside of it and finally hung it up in the backyard.
I only hung it up for decoration but was amazed last week to see that there are birds using it! Assuming there are or might be baby birds; I’m terrified of what might happen if baby birds end up in the yard during their in-flight training. So far I’ve been searching the back of the yard for any signs of life before letting Guinevere out.
Never have I ever had birds in a birdhouse to contend with. I’m happy but anxious.
Sad news about Harry Belafonte last week. Not quite so sad (to me anyway) about Jerry Springer’s passing. As I was looking up Harry Belafonte, I also saw the Wee Willie Harris also died last week. I had never actually heard of Wee Willie, but he caught my eye because on the list he came up as “Wee Willie Harris, 90, English rock and roll star”. It was quite dismaying to think that a rock and roll star could be 90. That makes me feel SO old.
Wee Willie was born Charles Williams Harris and he was popular on British tv during the 50s. He was known as “Britain’s wild man of rock and roll”.
I found some fun clips. Here is one song I like.
This one is a fun visual of the man himself.
I can see why he got the wild man moniker!
Any other artists/musicians who seem to have been around forever?
My warehouse projects are this Friday and Saturday. Part of the warehouse “experience” is having cheering throngs when the winners arrive at the warehouse. For one of the very first warehouse programs (about 15 years ago), somebody had the idea to invite the Vikings cheerleaders to welcome the winners; as cheesy at it sounds, the participants ate it up. Unfortunately it didn’t often work out (time-wise or budget-wise) to keep bringing “professionals” in to cheer. That’s when we started recruiting regular employees to take a break from their desks to come root the winners on as they get off the bus. Didn’t take long before we added noisemakers and clappers for the ultimate event.
For my very first warehouse run, my winners were veterinarian pharmaceutical sales folks and I found out early on that there were four subsets of them… and they didn’t like each other. I never did figure out exactly how they were competitors but the bottom line was the client didn’t want the four groups in the warehouse at the same time. Instead of one run with about 45 winners, we had to have four runs in one day, with 8-12 winners each. That wasn’t a problem for anybody except for me. It was the first week of December and I was really worried that I wouldn’t get people out to cheer four times in one day, especially a cold day.
That’s when I thought up the hot chocolate. I ordered four big containers of hot chocolate along with cups, set up a table outside the warehouse (where folks congregate to cheer) and then four times that day poured out cup after cup of hot cocoa. It was a big hit and several folks came out repeatedly that day, one even mentioning to me that he came for the hot drink. We’ve been supplying hot chocolate at cold weather warehouse runs ever since and have added lemonade for hot weather runs. I’ve always felt proud that this was my idea.
Fast forward to this week. Since pandemic, Mondays and Fridays are work-at-home days; normally the buildings are all but empty. There haven’t been many Friday warehouse programs since the travel industry got back on its feet but there have been just enough folks who are either already on campus or willing to drive in to cheer. But Saturdays are a whole `nother matter Not only is Saturday in itself a problem — the group is big enough that we have to do a morning run and an afternoon run. We even advised the client that we couldn’t guarantee the cheering. With management’s blessing, we have an incentive set up to get folks to come in to cheer. In addition, I’ve ordered doughnuts for the Friday and Saturday morning cheerers and cookies for the Saturday afternoon cheerers. Hopefully between the company incentive and the goodies, we’ll get enough to make it exciting for the winners. Fingers crossed.
What would it take to get you to come out and cheer on a weekend?
I’m doing my Menards mulch runs this week. I like to go early in the morning (think 6:30 a.m.), before it’s too busy; that way I don’t have to fight anybody over a big flatbed cart. I can only fit 6-8 bags in my little car (depending on how badly I want to see out the back window) but 6-8 bags definitely needs a flatbed cart!
As I was loading up the car on Tuesday, it occurred to me that I don’t come by my love of gardening naturally. Nonny likes her garden neat and orderly but there were never any carloads of mulch or flats of annuals. For a few years, we had a small vegetable garden but it was pretty much only tomatoes – although I do remember one year with corn but not sure if we actually got any corn off the stalks.
Nonny didn’t enlist either my sister or me to help in the garden or even harvest anything. Cutting the grass on the riding mower was the extent of my yard work growing up; this was only in high school as we never had a big enough yard for a riding mower until then.
In my first house here in Minneapolis I didn’t do much yardwork – the house has evergreen bushes in front and they didn’t require much. Wasband cut the postage-stamp sized yard. I did do a vegetable garden a couple of times but we had slug issues and Irish Setter-stomping-all-over-the-plants issues. I’m not sure what clicked in my brain when I moved to my current home. The more flowers/less grass plan was hatched fairly early on and the hanging pots and mulch madness followed pretty quickly after that.
My straw bale gardening got going about a dozen years back after reading Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook. I won’t bore you with this again since I know I’ve already talked about it (probably repeatedly), but straw bales have brought my gardening full circle (or so it feels to me).
Not sure how the gardening got into my blood, but this week as I start to prepare my bales and do my mulch runs, I’m feeling happier than I have for a few weeks as winter has dragged on. Maybe spring really is coming.
The word on the streets of New York is that there is a new “rat mitigator”; the headlines are screaming “A NEW RAT CZAR”. Her actual title is City Director of Rat Mitigation but it hasn’t taken long for the czar moniker to have grabbed ahold of everyone’s attention.
I know that czar gets added to a lot of titles – Bird Flu Czar, Climate Czar, Energy Czar. My favorite is Elliott Abrams title of Democracy Czar during the GW Bush administration. Czar and democracy seem like odd bed-fellows to me.
I feel a little sorry for the new Rat Czar; it can’t be an easy job and it’s hard to imagine that in a contest between rats and humans, that the rats don’t hold most of the cards. But you never know!
Last year when I retired, I made an online calendar to count down the last 30 days. I did it online because I didn’t want to hurt my boss’ feelings.
When she called me in January to ask if I would handle two special projects, I was hesitant but eventually figured it would be a nice favor to do her and that extra money never hurts. I had several stipulations that I hoped would make the projects easier: 100% work from home, no set schedule, no meetings except the few needed for my specific projects, no training.
Since I only work when there is something to do, my hours have been variable. Early on, I was just working 3-4 hours a week. The last six weeks, it’s been around 20 hours a week. The first week of May will likely be around 40.
As you can see from the photo above, I’ve made another calendar to count the days.
My appreciate of corporate America has not increased since last summer. Still too many buzz words (collaboration, pivot, synergy, core competency, subject matter expert). Still too much inter-department conflict. Still clients who completely ignore timelines and 30+ years of advice.
The biggest issue although is my feeling that I just don’t want to be tied to work any longer. Not that I have massive numbers of other things to do; I just want to be free to do what I want when I want… even if it’s reading all day while playing online solitaire.
Someone asked me over the weekend if I wouldn’t be susceptible to more requests from my boss in the future – if I would feel guilty if she was struggling to get everything assigned. I’ve thought about it and realized that no, this has been a lesson learned. I don’t want to do this anymore. In addition, I worked for this woman for 32 years and she has never gotten anyone from outside the organization to come back to do special projects; she has 32 years of experience working this stuff out. If I say “no” in the future, I’m sure she can work it out without me.
So, I’m counting down. I included the weekends because I will be working on Saturday, May 6. It’s the final event of the two projects and except for a few hours of wrapping up the accounting, which will probably be in June, it will be the end of my work. I can’t wait!
When was the last time you were counting the days? Have you ever actually made a countdown calendar?
Trail Baboon 