Finishing a book that I started was a “rule” of mine for more than half my life. If you had asked me, I wouldn’t have said it was a rule, but that must have been what it looked like from the outside. My three copies of Ulysses are a case in point. Ever since my college years, I have thought I should read it but could never make it more than a couple of pages. Then I would forget I ever had a copy and eventually buy a new one.
At some point I read some place that so many books are published each year that even if you read a book a day, you would never get to all of them. That’s when I did make a rule for myself – if I’m not enjoying the reading, I quit and move onto the next book. I can be ruthless about this; more than once I have dumped a book after just a few pages.
Today I am returning a book to the library that I have not finished. It’s a Maggie O’Farrell, an author who I normally adore. Every one of her books that I’ve read has earned 5 stars. But yesterday, while listening to it on CD in the car, she broke one of my rules… the dog died. When it happened I turned off the CD immediately to think about it. That’s when I realized that even though I was about 1/3 of the way through the book, I hadn’t really connected to any of the characters and wasn’t enjoying it. When I got home I looked up the summary online and found that continuing was probably not going to be enjoyable to me. That made me ponder my reading rules. I’ve never written these down before, in fact have never really thought of them as a list before, but here things that can put me off:
The dog dying (specially if the dog is killed)
Children dying (same caveat as the dog…)
Torture/rape (I quit Rob Roy because of this)
Graphic violence (Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy went back to the library quickly)
Child abuse (a fairly long string of abandoned books for this rule – Demon Copperfield, Swamplandia, Where the Crawdads Sing….)
Vapidness. This probably seems a silly rule, but if the main characters are all shallow and full of themselves, I don’t see a finished book in my future. (These tend to get rejected very quickly so I can’t even think of a title!)
I realize that these are all negative rules. I’ve been pondering if I have any positive reading rules; the only thing I can come up with is things that draw me to books and that list is way too long to put here. Suffice it say that the list would start with dragons and fairies!
Do you have any reading rules? What draws you to a book?
Our grandson is spending a few days with us this week while his daycare is closed. We plan to take him swimming and to the local library. I also plan to bake with him and we will make Franzbrotchen, a Hamburg pastry. I want him to learn about where his ancestors came from. He loves to bake and cook and is an excellent sous chef. We will have Pasta Carbonara, one of his favorites. We also will enlist his help with some gardening. He loves to grow things. We are Oma and Opa, to distinguish us from his Grandma and Grandpa on his mom’s side of the family.
I spent time with both sets of grandparents in the summer. My father’s parents lived on a farm outside of Magnolia, MN. That grandma was a great lover of cats and had a regiment of them. She loved to feed them buttered sweetcorn cobs after we were done eating the corn kernals. I would help her collect eggs and work in the garden. The hens pecking at my arms as I took their eggs were scary. I liked talking to the cows and pigs. My grandfather was partially paralyzed from a stroke. He had a wonderful library of history books, and we would talk about his recent read and the history discussed in the book. He really liked talking about Napoleon, someone who had such an impact on his family in northwest Germany.
My maternal grandparents lived on a farm close to Hatfield, MN, a small town with a notorious dance hall, near Pipestone. That grandma (who we called Omie) and I would bake sweet rolls and cook wonderful suppers together. She was a great story teller and related lots of reminiscences from her childhood in Hamburg, Germany and her teen years in New York City. Grandpa was a really quiet guy who kept busy helping my uncle on the farm. His English was somewhat limited and we didn’t talk all that much. He was kindly and gentle.
I hope our grandson has positive memories of his time with us. We have books, a garden, fancy food, terriers, cats, a library, and a really nice swimming pool. What more does a kid need?
Who were your most memorable older relatives? What did you learn from them?
Boommate and I hoped to go to a matinee at our local movie theatre tomorrow see The Odyssey. Our theatre, the Palace, is a 100+ year old former Vaudeville theatre that the community has restored and renovated for our local theatre group productions, movies, and concerts. The Missoula Children’s Theatre was scheduled for a workshop and a production as well. Tuesday we got the word that everything was cancelled. During the recent Green Earth Players production of On Golden Pond a bat was noticed soaring around the very tall ceiling. It apparently brought quite a few friends along, too. The bat mitigation company can’t come until next week. The Missoula Children’s Theatre has been moved to the Catholic church.
I am pretty sure the Palace was first movie theatre I went to as a child. Boommate and I took a trip to Sioux Falls on Tuesday to run some errands. Our travels took us to downtown Sioux Falls where we noticed the State Theatre, where we both remembered seeing The Sound Of Music when it first came out. It was the only theatre that had a big enough screen and modern sound system to accommodate the movie. My dad took me and it was memorable. I was about 7 years old.
Our 8 year old grandson is coming to stay with us for a few days next week and I hope the bats get removed before he arrives. The Palace always has children’s movies during the week and I would love to take him. I really want him to experience the Palace.
What was the first movie theatre you remember going to? Any bat or rodent stories?
*Thanks to JimEd Poole for the phrase and T-shirt suggestion.
The vacation is over. Farming sucked this week.
The highlight of my week was putting a new windshield wiper on my car because it actually clicked into place and stayed there when I turned on the wipers. I’m calling that a win.
To sooth my mood, I listened to the music of Les Paul. Are you familiar with him and his wife, Mary Ford, and their multi track recording of “How High The Moon? It’s really pretty cool.
He’s a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar, and his use of recording techniques such as over dubbing and multi track recording was revolutionary.
Mary Ford was an outstanding musician herself. Reading about her reveals 4 marriages, alcoholism, and sadly, died at age 53, of complications from alcohol abuse, after eight weeks in a diabetic coma. Kind of broke my heart…
One of my favorite recordings is “Chester and Lester”, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Which leads me to “Neck and Neck”, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Which takes me to Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris and “All The Roadrunning”.
And that’s all the duos’s I can link because I don’t have any other Emmylou Harris.
So the farm.
Last Saturday the neighbors came out to combine oats. They made a round and a half, plugged up the combine with the grass, (remember, I said that was going to be a problem) And then, I think they were hot and dirty and mad and they went home. I’m sure he was as hot and frustrated as I would’ve been. I said that I thought they started on the worst field, and they should try some of the other fields because there was a lot less grass in them. And I don’t know why, but they never came back and they told me I’d have to cut the oats, sort of the traditional way of swathing it and then picking it up from there. That gives the grass a chance to dry out. Well if I’d have known I was going to swath it, I’d have got my swather ready before we went on vacation for a week. I tried Saturday afternoon to get the swather started and it’s always a bugger to get going at first. Sunday I was working on a show all day. And Monday was hot and humid and miserable and it was a Monday all over. I went to three different auto part stores, and I know I’ve talked about this before; the swather has a Chrysler ‘slant 6’ engine in it. These things were bulletproof and there was a million of them around back in the 70s. But the trick now is finding a mechanic old enough to know what a slant 6 is. And that’s been my problem. I’ve gotten a lot of parts that don’t fit and we can’t seem to find ones that do fit. John Deere doesn’t carry parts for the motors anymore. And I was in quite a foul mood most of Monday. By Tuesday I had mellow out a bit and by Wednesday hired a couple of guys to come and swath the oats for me. What’s a couple more hundred bucks to hire them…
Hired guys swathing oats
And now, of course, after a month of no rain, now it’s raining on Friday. Need the rain, just not right now. Because now my oats is laying down. But at least the oats was standing well when it was cut! Yay! I’m afraid it’s dried up to nothing, so maybe some rain will help it rehydrate. And then eventually the swath will dry and then we’ll get it combined and then I’ll get some straw baled. The neighbors have had their Oats and Straw done for two or three weeks. But we’re not talking about that. 
It was a nice gentle all day rain, and we have over an inch. I did bookwork, and other computer stuff, then organized the pencil drawer in the shop, and fixed a crack on the hood of one of the lawn mowers.
That’s better
I did take a couple hours of one afternoon, when I wasn’t doing anything else, and painted our downstairs bathroom that’s almost done being remodeled. It’s done except for the countertop and sink, and toilet. The countertop is coming August 10 and I would expect a plumber a day or two after that. And while I was painting over the pink bathroom I was singing to myself Lou and Peter Berryman’s “Why Am I Painting My Living Room“.
The padawans were out and we started replacing boards around the bottom of the pole barn. It was hot and one of them complains a lot. Eventually I give him a new rule: “No Bitching”. Then he gets moody but I can handle that.
Front boards done; working on the side. And the door needs to be rebuilt.
I had rock delivered for the road. Ten loads of 18 tons each. Spending money hand over fist again. Can’t take it with you.
Never underestimate the value of a good driver who knows how to spread rock.
I also got stung by a bee working with the boys. Cripes. No allergies or anything, just another annoyance.
I cleaned the radiators on the big tractor, (AC, hydraulic oil, and water radiators) and worked up a small field that a friend plants for a deer plot. (His theory is the deer will eat that instead of my crops. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t work). And after the oats and straw is finally done, I’ll be planting cereal rye as a cover crop.
cleaning the radiators.
Chicken mama is down to 3 chicks… but the co-parenting guinea mom still has around maybe 15? She keeps them out of site most of the time and it’s hard to get a good count of them.
Guinea moms and babies
I mowed some more weeds. I finished lighting one show and started another, and this one is a drag show and a lot of fun.
There was a turkey buzzard sitting on a fence post one day. I thought, ‘well if that doesn’t sum up my week.”
I’ll end with this:
WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF A FOWL MOOD?
HOW MANY YO-YO’s DID YOU HAVE AS A KID? COULD YOU DO TRICKS? 
We had a lovely time over the July 4th weekend in a Airb and b near La Crosse, WI. Our place was pretty remote and up at the top of some tree covered hills. We had a huge deck overlooking the forest.
One evening I was on the deck and I heard some very harsh meowing coming from the woods. It sounded like a cat in distress. I was just about to head into the woods when I remembered our grandson telling us that there were catbirds in the woods nearby, as the bird song app on his parents’ phone had identified their call. What a lousy trick for that bird to play on me!
Further research on catbirds revealed that they are really good at mimicking other birds and do so quite frequently. They like to sing when well hidden in bushes and trees, unlike other song birds that prefer to sing in the open in tree tops. Much easier to fool people that way. Their well developed vocal chords allow them to make two sounds at the same time. They are described as brave and nosy, and as liking to be around people. Sitting in the catbird seat means you are in an advantageous position and have the upper hand.
I don’t think we had catbirds in western ND. They like being where there are lots of trees. It has been really nice hearing all the different bird calls here in MN. If I were a bird I would want to be a catbird. Think how much fun it would be to mimic catalog and other birds and sing multiple notes at the same time. There is something to be said be said, though, about the nightingale.
What are your favorite bird songs or songs about birds? What kind of a bird would you want to be?
We’ve been gone for a week. Returned to one last day of nice weather before it gets hot again.
Where were we?
Every restaurant was so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. We postulate the ambient noise level was so loud that everyone else has to get louder.
A cool ceiling at this resturant.
Decor at the same place.
There are many wonderful parks, lots of free green space, art, and statues.
It seems like we had a hard time figuring out the subway ticket system but we got around and managed to make do with the kindness of strangers and only losing money on one ticket system I still haven’t figured out what I bought that didn’t work. Que sera sera
Took a Commuter train to visit a couple attractions. First time for that for us.
Sunday after the World Cup finals, one train was packed, but everyone was very nice. We laughed about how tight we were crammed in there. Kelly and I joked a full train on Sunday is probably different than a full train on Thursday at 5:00 PM. The Wednesday 5 PM train was full, and seemed to skip one stop, and at the next stop, which was the one we wanted, only one door opened and we couldn’t get there before it closed and the train moved on. Daughter was VERY put out. A guy on the train said “I have missed so many stops…”
Traffic lights seem to only be a suggestion to some people.
A few more street signs would be really helpful.
I didn’t pack any shirts with sleeves!
We travelled there as Kelly had a work conference. We all had a few vacation days together before she had to ‘work’ work. Daughter and I made our own fun after that. Saw some movies – in 3D!- and had a good time.
Ice cream coma
My steps the last week average about 8500. Daughter, constantly moving, averages 12,000 a day.
We had lots of help on the farm to keep things in hand.
The chicken from last week still has some chicks left; I haven’t gotten a good count as they’re hiding in the tall grass. But maybe 5 out of her 13. We’ve always said, the real world is a tough place for chicks.
And now we have multiple baby guineas.
At least guineas are good at co-parenting.
We want more guineas, but didn’t want to stick a guest with baby chick care. So we’ll see. The photo was from Tuesday when the Palawan’s saw them. I haven’t found them yet on Friday. Kelly saw them briefly, and then the mom seems to hide them so she can get out and eat. That’s kind of unusual.
Padawan 1 is broke, so I left him a list of projects. Darn if those missing soft skills don’t make it harder than it had to be for both of us as I had to remind him to do a few jobs, and offer help by text when he’d ask questions. And he made a few jobs harder. Which is how we learn, right? P2 came out few times too. I’m not sure how much I’m paying them for work, or how much was goofing around. Well, QSS all over again.
Thanks to Rick and Betty for picking up the mail. Thanks to John and Tamsin for taking care of the chickens, Tamsin, and the dogs, John. Gracie and Evan house sat and watered flowers.
I’m hoping to get the oats harvested Saturday. It’s still standing good, which is great, but the grass in it is getting bad. That only means it will combine a little tougher (because a combine harvester doesn’t like green stuff) and the straw windrow will have to dry out before I can bale it.
The corn got sprayed with fungicide by helicopter. Corn fungus’ have become a big issue the last few years as they move up from the south and the hot weather acerbates the issue.
I’ll post a few more photos after the location has been determined.
EVER HOUSE SAT? OR HAD HOUSE SITTERS? TELL US ABOUT IT
I read with rather horrified amusement about a traffic problem in Fargo that occurred on July 11th. The incident took place on I-94 on the border between Fargo and West Fargo on a very busy section of the highway. The exits on that stretch of the highway lead to major retail areas and the big Sanford Hospital.
As in many communities there is a lot of construction this summer happening in Fargo. The eastbound lanes on I-94 were reduced to one lane for construction. The police and highway patrol got calls around 2:30 pm that there was a complete blockage of the one eastbound lane by debris that had fallen out of a truck.
A trucker had apparently braked suddenly for slowing traffic not realizing that the rear door to the trailer he was hauling had opened. Approximately 15 well aged bison carcasses slid out of the trailer onto the highway. The trucker seemingly didn’t know what had happened and continued driving east. He wasn’t identified until 7 hours later. It is thought he was heading to a rendering plant in Long Prairie. The available news is unclear whether he was fined for the incident.
The West Fargo Fire Department, State Troopers, and Highway Department workers all cleaned up the mess and sanitized the roadway. I can’t imagine how awful that must have been, or what they did with the debris. I just hope it wasn’t too hot out.
What is the biggest mess you have ever had to clean up?
About a month ago we had quite a bit of rain and the humidity stayed quite high into the evening. I was delighted to see small lights flit here and there all over the yard, and realized they were fireflies. We also saw them in the woods near our rental a couple of weeks ago near La Crosse. Grandson was entranced. There aren’t many fireflies in Brookings, SD.
It seems fireflies like heat and humidity, and we never had them in ND or in Winnipeg since it is so much drier there. There were tons of them the year we lived in Southern Indiana. We were pretty close to the Kentucky border. It was really hot and humid. The fireflies are my favorite memories from Indiana. Husband did his predoctoral internship there. We moved to Indiana after several years in Winnipeg. It was a pretty awful place after living in Canada. At that time Indiana was considered the most politically corrupt US state. It was very socially conservative. I was glad when our year there was up.
I can’t imagine there weren’t fireflies here in Luverne when I was growing up, but I really have no memory of them. Neither does Boommate. It was great to see them the other night. They seem magical.
Got fireflies? What are the best and worst places you have lived?
About 90 miles outside of Columbus is The Wilds, a wildlife conservation center developed on reclaimed land that had been mined for coal for four decades. Starting in the late 70s, the Ohio Zoological Commission began developing a plan for using that land for a special wildlife conservation area. They began in 1984 with 9,154 acres and the first animals, the Przewalski Horse, an endangered wild species, were introduced. Two years later, The Wilds opened to the public. Today there are close to 500 animals, representing 19 species, that roam the acres of The Wilds.
YA and I learned about The Wilds through the same tv show that introduced us to the Columbus Zoo (Secrets of the Zoo) and we knew that if we visited Columbus, we had to include it in our plans.
The only way to see the animals is on a safari tour; we took the medium-tour so there were 14 of us in the back of a Ford pick-up (there were seats). The tour was a bit over 3 hours and it was amazing. We were fairly up close and personal with Persian Onagers, Pere David Deer, Grevy’s Zebras, the famous Przewalski Horses (called P Horses) and two kinds of Oryx – Fringe Eared and Scimitar-Horned.
One of the youngest Bactrian Camels had been hand-raised after his mother rejected him. Named Latte, he was more than willing to come right up to the truck to get scritches under his chin. The Sichuan Takin was not as big or golden as the takin we have at the MN Zoo but The Wilds does have the largest breeding takin herd in North America.
Latte
We fed giraffes from the truck – two of the herd really like this and one in particular, Tuffy, lets folks give him little pets on his necks. (I bought a tee-shirt w/ Tuffy on it.) At that same stop, the two female ostriches approached and one of them clearly didn’t like the look of me. Before I realized how far into the truck she could reach, she gave me a nip on the hand. For the rest of the stop, she repeatedly tried to get me. Nobody else on the truck, just me.
Sadie
In a shaded copse we found five banteng, a species of wild cow. They have 1 male and 4 females. Apparently they are working on a program to determine if they can breed the current herd – the male banteng is quite elderly and if the females are still fertile, they will bring in a new male to help with reproduction. When I asked what would happen to Elvis, the male, our tour guide said that he would relocate to a pasture where a few other elderly animals reside – a cushy banteng retirement home, as it were. For some reason I thought this was really funny.
Elvis
The highlight of the tour was when we were taken down to the winter barn area – some of the animals over-winter there since the Ohio climate isn’t that great for African animals. There, in one of the rhino barns was Bernard. He is living a cushy rhino retirement and one of the things he enjoys is getting pets and scritches. Our group was happy to oblige. Bernard is a Southern White Rhino so he is sporting some serious horn. We didn’t pet that part! This was a thrilling experience. I know I’ve said in the past that I’ve never had a Bucket List, but I’m thinking about doing one now so that I can write “petting a rhino” on it and then checking it off.
Bernard
What a fabulous day – after the safari ride, we had veggie burgers at the little café and then did some damage at the gift shop. I am seriously recommending this to anybody who gets anywhere near Columbus. Just an amazing way to spend a day. The Wilds has a few ways that you can stay on the property overnight (yurts, little lodge and a new set of rooms attached to the giraffe barn. YA and I talked about maybe going back one day and doing that.
Ever had the chance to pet a wild animal? Would you stay overnight in a giraffe barn?
One of the highlights of our Columbus weekend was a day at The Columbus Zoo. We got there right at opening and got a nice discount for being Minnesota Zoo members. We did not really have much of a plan for the day – just wanted to see everything.
Not in any particular order…
Saw the tiger feeding and met a staff member who had been part of the Secrets of the Zoo show!
Watched a training session with two gorgeous cheetahs.
Walked through Adventure Cove (glass tube with water on all sides so you can see the various sealife swim above you and below you.
Watched the lion feeding. I had the BEST spot of anyone… I kid you not.
YA walked through the Lorikeet Aviary
Lots of kangaroos in the Kangaroo WalkAbout
Extraordinarily expensive pizza lunch
Spent a LONG LONG time at Stingray Bay. YA is besotted with petting stingrays and little sharks.
Petted some goats at The Barn
Gorgeous polar bears
Visited the manatees and got to see “Stubby”, who can’t be released to a boatstrike injury but has acted as a mom to many young rescue manatees over the years. Even found a cool manatee t-shirt!
I’ve talked about Jack Hanna running the Zoo for many years, basically turning it around and creating the fabulous experience that it is today. Up near the Africa area, there is a great bench/sculpture of Jack and his wife, Suzi. I couldn’t resist the photo op!
We were at the zoo for almost 8 hours and I can truthfully say that I slept like a rock that night!
Trail Baboon 