There is always something going on at The Palace, the restored Vaudeville theatre here in town. They schedule movies every week. This week there were kids’ movies. This weekend there is a murder mystery play put on by The Green Earth Players, our local community theatre group. A TR Roosevelt reenactor from Medora, ND is coming on the 16th, and a concert pianist is coming at the end of the month.
One of my former psychology colleagues from ND is obsessed with the Titanic disaster and has put together a one woman show of a Titanic survivor, complete with an authentic period costume. I plan to connect her and The Palace organization so perhaps she can perform here. She is a perfect fit for the venue. I also plan, in the fall, to avail myself to The Green Earth players as a volunteer and perhaps an actor. We shall see what I end up doing. I should really love to act.
You live in a small community that needs actors and tech help for its theatre company. How could you help? What roles would you play if you had to be on stage? Why are they called The Green Earth Players?
*A working title that was as good as anything else.
This week’s farming update from BEN
Spring is coming. The female cardinal is fighting with her reflection in our car mirrors. She did that last year too. (Remember when having that right side mirror was a big deal? They were not standard.)
The maple trees are getting buds on them. Crocuses are coming up. The chives are coming up. And the snow fence is falling over, so it must be time to be done with that. Fingers crossed. I saw a turkey vulture Friday morning and Kelly heard a killdeer.
Last weekend Kelly traveled to San Antonio for a work thing. Spent 12 hours in airports on Saturday. Had two layovers, three flights, and every flight was late for one reason or another. Left RST at noon, got to SAN at midnight. And then couldn’t get to the gate because there was some sort of medical emergency inside.
At least her luggage showed up! She had time to walk around Sunday afternoon. Saw the Alamo and did the river walk downtown.
Did her work thing, had supper with a co-worker, went back to the airport at 3AM, no trouble getting through TSA at that point, and was back in Rochester with no issues at 11AM Monday. She slept the rest of the day.
Man, air travel… I’m gonna ask you about that at the end so give it some thought.
Really haven’t done much on the farm this week. I’ve seen several posts from the Oat Mafia group on FB of guys out planting oats. One guy did it before the blizzard. Another guy remarked when he got to the field at 2:00AM it was 31degrees and a little wet. By 3:30AM and 27 degrees it was perfect. I read that and I think to myself, honestly, I am just playing at this farming thing… Yeah, they got 1400 acres total, and 300 acres oats, while I got 25 acres of oats, So, it doesn’t compare, but still… it’s hard not to compete. My equipment doesn’t do what their equipment does. I have to do tillage before I can plant. They’re doing no-till. I looked up some no-till drills. A brand new one, six feet wide, lists for $17,000. My current drill is 15’ wide. Ok, here’s a used no-till 15’ drill, 1996 model. $35,900. Whistle. That’s a lot of oats to make that pay. Plus having the field ready to plant last fall in order to plant this spring.
Last week I mentioned jumping through hoops at the local Farm Service Agency. Somehow, after 10 years, they decided the Hain Trust and me were not the same people. I had to get a lawyer to draw up some paperwork to show I am indeed part of the Hain Trust. And that made FSA happy and this week I got a nice deposit from them. Evidently, it’s tied into that Big … Bill the orange president created. Yeah, more bail out money since he screwed up all the markets. And this is how we’re saving money, right?
And the check from the corn I sold so I had a really nice bank balance.
Then I paid the first half of rent on two fields, $2000. And paid the diesel fuel and gasoline bill. $2300. And Farm insurance $1200 quarterly. And the monthly electric bill, and, and, and… easy come easy go! But hey, at least I could make those payments.
Working on a show at the college. We open in about 3 weeks and I am busy building stuff. I clean up as I’m working because I hate walking through sawdust and tracking it all over the rest of the shop. And that’s why I vacuumed up the remote for the dust collector on the table saw. And because I have a bag in the shop vac, I had to sift it to the top and fish it back out the hole. I knew it was in there because I turned it on while fishing it out, haha. I’m gonna add a board to it so I don’t do that again. This was the second or third time I’ve done that.
I took a walk along our creek last Sunday. Me and the dogs.
Bailey…
Silver Creek
I heard some sandhill cranes calling. A flock/siege/construction/swoop of 12 or 14 of them made a loop and head off south. I hope a few spend more time in our area. I thought of our Steve.
I had a lot of township business this week. Lots of phone calls and fact-finding. Relinquished my chair of the town board and don’t have to chair that board again for 4 years. And Thursday night was the annual meeting of the People’s Electric Cooperative. Supper was provided and it was… food. I wore sleeves and a jacket.
As chair of the nominating committee I presented the election results and read the oath to the winners. And that’s over for another year. Shedding projects left and right!
A few weeks ago, here in Winona, there was an event at the Two Fathoms Brewing, a bar-and-grill downtown, on the river. Here’s the press release:
Silent Auction & Benefit Show for Winona Sheltering Network
Sunday 2:00 – 5:00 Free Event, All Ages
[Music by:] Ironstill; Mike Munson; Sheep for Wheat
When I got there around 3:00, the place was packed – standing room only. I got a lucky seat when a person sitting beside my friend Cherie left for the other room, where the Silent Auction was taking place. I eventually stood in a long line for a Cold Milk Stout (really a delicious thing – look it up). It had been a year or more since I’d been to Two Fathoms – it hosts weekly Beer Bingo, weekly Trivia Night, live music on weekends, and a monthly Karaoke, et al. Best, though, are the monthly Jazz Jams on a Sunday afternoon – with the local H3O Jazz Trio and an open mic; each month a portion of the proceeds go to a different local cause. Here’s a photo to give you the “flavor” of the place…
I enjoyed some of the changes that had been made in my absence – they’d relocated the bar, which left more central space for the stage. But since the noise level made conversation close to impossible, we just listened to the music and WATCHED people – best people-watching I’ve done in ages:
– people seeing each other and hugging, or just being delighted to reunite
– lots of little kids, some in tutus and other fancy dresses
– a guy in the corner talking to his friend, holding his mug and a baby
– so many different ages of people, and everyone seemed in a good mood
– a singer pauses to announce that there’s a pizza looking for a home – can anyone please claim this pizza???
– and the pizza smelled SO good..
– felt good to be among these people; everyone there was in support of the Sheltering Network
– there were great silent auction items – “knocked it out of the park”, someone said – and they raised around $12,000 for the WSN
When was the last time you were in a bar? Or attended a fundraiser? Was it enjoyable?
Thursday night I went to see my little friend Minnie in Mary Poppins at the Wayzata Community Church. I’ve been to several of her performances in plays the past couple of years but this was the first one at this venue. Apparently they’ve been doing productions for 25 years. Who knew?
It was a quite a production with a cast of close to 40 with a huge stage (in the sanctuary) and a nice-sized band. (So, in addition to Minnie in the play, I got to enjoy her father playing the trombone as well!)
It was a little overblown (in my opinion). Every now and then the band’s background music drowned out the dialog but the biggest problem was really the size of the cast. Every big number had almost the entire cast on stage with all the “main stars” in the front; normally not a problem but a lot of the not-main cast were the younger actors/actresses so you really couldn’t see them easily. It was just kind of a mass of bodies. For those of us there to see a friend or family member (probably most of us in the sanctuary), it was difficult.
Minnie really shone in “Step in Time”, the number done by all the chimney sweeps. She was the youngest of the sweeps but she held her own. She knew the steps and kept up with the older/bigger dancers. She clearly knew all the words and she has a great smile.
Another great piece of the evening was sitting with Marie, Minnie’s little sister. Marie had a fabulous Mary Poppins dress and shoes, along with her Mary Poppins doll and umbrella. She looked so cute.
So it was a fun night. I get to see Marie in a “showcase” next week. I love being the neighborhood grandma!
What do you wear when you’re out for the evening?? Favorite musical?
My neighbor Don once asked me about how I keep up with supplies for my paper crafts. I think I snorted. I’m pretty certain that if I didn’t buy anything else ever (except for tape, which I go through at a prodigious rate), I could keep making cards until I’m 105.
You’d think that with stacks of paper, I wouldn’t be so stingy with it. I keep almost every scrap, unless it’s thinner than 1/2”. There are two plastic bins in my studio with paper scraps – one is for solid-colored cardstock and the other is for patterned paper. Both these bins are full and I spend a bit of time sifting through to see if there is something I can use rather than cut into a new piece of stock/paper. I try to keep it organized, but many days when I’m straightening up after I’ve crafted, I just toss the scraps into the bin willy nilly.
That means that a couple of times a year, it’s time to sort out the scraps. I go through each bins separately; solids get divided up into colors (blues, greens, purples, etc.) and patterns get laid out by pattern type and/or season (stripes, dots, floral, Halloween, etc.) At this point I usually jettison a lot of the smaller pieces, especially the patterned stuff. The header photo is what it looks like (this is the solids).
This whole process takes about an hour. It’s not hard by any means and I can’t say that I actually enjoy it but it does feel quite good when it’s done. And I don’t have to think about it for another six months or so!
Last Thursday night, YA and I headed over to the Minnesota Historical Center to see the Julia Child exhibit. It’s been there for a bit but we just got around to it… plus the free Thursday aren’t EVERY Thursday, so it does require a little pre-planning.
I’ve seen Julia Child’s actual kitchen at the Smithsonian, but this traveling exhibit if much more extensive, covering details of her childhood, how she met her husband Paul, their life in France and, of course, her culinary journey. There are quite a few fun bits in the exhibit:
Pots w/ smells. There were a few pots next to copies of her most famous recipes. When you lifted the lid, that recipe’s aroma wafted out of the pot. Ingenious. There was a mock-tv studio and if you stood in certain parts of the room, your image was filmed and showed up on three different screens. Another fabulous part of the exhibit was a 12-foot high copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking; the inside of the book was projected from two different screens and every minute or so, the “page” would turn, taking your to another recipe in the book. What a marvelous idea.
I guess I know more about Julia Child than I thought (couple of biographies); the exhibit didn’t have anything that was a surprise about her life but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
I had been surprised that YA had wanted to come along but she seemed to enjoy it. We then went on to see a couple of the other exhibits that are showing right now but she didn’t want to stay for the free concert that was going on that night. Oh well, I take what I can get!
What’s the last museum you’ve visited? Any good biographies lately?
The coyotes start howling at 4AM. That gets Bailey barking which gets Luna barking ad running around inside the house. Soon as we step outside Bailey runs over to us, like ‘The coyotes are out there!’ It sure does disturb our sleep.
I’m not gonna talk about the fact it’s almost March. I have had so much stuff going on lately I can’t remember when I get out if I’ve turned the car off. One day I restarted the car when I opened the door. The next day I got out while the car was still running.
Last Friday was a student potluck at the college for my boss, Jerry, who will be retiring in May. There were students from the last 20 years and it was really good to talk with them and see them again.
One traveled from New York, and one came in from South Korea.
She who traveled furthest.
Last Saturday I took a friend to Red Wing. I thought it was just gonna be a quick drop off and home again. Not so much. Too much to get into, but it took the whole day.
Sunday…I don’t even know what was Sunday. I guess I did some stuff.
Monday we had a touring show come through the college. A quick easy one woman show called ‘The Gun Show’. It was written in 2007 by E.M. Lewis and presented both sides of the gun debate. The character in the show grew up in Oregon, everybody hunted, her brothers were in the military. Then Her husband shot himself and the one line that sticks out, she says “I don’t want to take all your guns away. But I sure wish I would’ve taken his gun away.” Gut punch.
Tuesday morning the Rochester Symphony had two concerts at one of the local high schools. Fourth graders from all around the area attended. It was a great way to get the kids interested in classical music and they learned how different instruments work. Then the superintendent of the Rochester Schools narrated Peter and the Wolf. It was a nice event to work.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned a meeting that I had with Soil & Water and all the projects we were planning for the farm. Three of the technicians came out to the farm on Wednesday with their GPS survey stick and we looked at five different areas. The main project that started all this; filling in a gully in the pasture, involves a spring that tends to run all winter, and I wanted to make sure they had the right idea for that. And it was good to look at it because we changed it a few things. It was decided we need to add a tile for the springs to control that water while not holding back water that might come from further uphill as part of a different project.
We talked about adding grass headlands in two spots, filling in another gully that I hadn’t even thought about, and we talked about what shrubs to plant for a wind break. The dogs got a lot of exercise running all over the farm. Poor Humphrey was pooped out. He was ready to go home, and our last stop was only about 100 yards from the house and I figured they would go home. But of course, that’s when daughter left for her walk and the dogs all have FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out, so off they went. Eventually I went and picked them up on the road and brought them all home.
I offered daughter a ride but she insisted she was fine. Later, after she did get home, she was kind of wishing she had taken a ride. The wind was a bit cool.
A tree company was out on Wednesday and cut down the last of those dead ash trees.
It sure looks different down there.
Thursday night I had an event at the college for what’s called the P-Tech program. It’s for the public school kids in grade 8-12 to attend classes at the college. A cooperative program between public and private, IBM and Mayo Clinic also contribute. The classes focus on IT or healthcare. It gives the kids a good headstart on college.
Saturday this week is technical rehearsal for a show at the Rochester Repertory Theatre called “Perfect Arrangement“ by Topher Payne.
Set in the 1950s during the red scare, this is the lavender scare. I read the script several months ago and it’s so frustrating to think they thought none of this would matter in 20 years and here we are 70 years later still fighting about it.
It’s a good cast, and the director has a good handle on it. It’s staged like an old TV show from the ‘50s. Bright expressions and brightly lit and one character turns to the audience and says ‘I used Foster’s Furiture Creme. There’s no waxy residue!”. I expect to see a sparkle flash and hear a ‘TING’ as she says that. That show opens on March 5.
There’s an online auction of farm machinery starting on February 28 in Plainview. I saved a handful of items to watch. I’m sure I won’t be able to afford any of it and it’s always fun to window shop.
There’s a big parts sale at John Deere on March 4 and 5th. Certain things like digger shovels and tractor filters might be on sale throughout the whole month, but then everything else is on sale those two days.
I have a list for shopping.
Speaking of old TV, I heard on the 1940’s radio station, Count Basie’s version of the song, ‘Open the Door Richard’. Course, my first knowledge of that phrase is the Bugs Bunny cartoon with Bugs and Yosemite Sam on a high diving board. Bugs has a door up there and Sam pounds on it yelling “OPEN THAT DOOR!” then turns to the camera and says, “You notice I didn’t say, ‘Richard’?” (I just learned, Sam’s mouth moved from inside his beard to under his beard for easier animation).
I remember in the 1980’s and VCRs were just coming out and I’d stand up on the second floor of Dayton’s in Rochester and watch old cartoons on a TV / VCR with a bunch of little kids. I was 18.
I’m having fun churning through a bunch of “listicle” books in preparation for Blevins. Shipwrecks, Nellie Bly, plants, more plants and Phineas Fogg.
The latest is The History of the World in 100 Objects, which was a BBC radio show awhile back. I found the CDs through Interlibrary Loan and it’s prodigious – 20 discs! It comes with a pamphlet that have 100 teeny little black and white photos of the items. Luckily I was able to find a website that has nicer photos of the objects, so I’ve been keeping that open while I listen to the CDs.
It’s well done – not nearly as stuffy as I was expecting – and I’m enjoying it, although I’m having to keep at it since you can’t renew ILL items.
All the items are in the British Museum, including a statue of Chicomecoatl, the Aztec of Goddess of Maize and Sustenance. The narration starts out with an overview of food having a divine role throughout history and then moves on to the history of maize, the plant it derives from and where it grows (just about everywhere). Then came this funny bit:
“But crucially, maize is a rich carbohydrate that gives you a rapid energy hit. But it is, let’s face it, pretty stodgy, and so from very early on, farmers also cultivated an ingenious – and tasty – accompaniment, the indigenous chili. It has virtually no nutritional value but, as we all know, it’s uniquely able to liven up dull carbohydrates – and it shows that we’ve been foodies for as long as we’ve been farmers.”
I laughed out loud especially since I had just added a slug of frozen poblanos to a dish I had made about an hour before. Now I want to go to Penzey’s to see if they have any good chili mixtures.
After three months in our new home we finally found enough energy to hang pictures.
Our “Boommate” will be moving in with us in a couple of months and we needed to get the pictures out of her space downstairs where they are all stacked against a wall. Our new home is bigger than our old home, but has less wall space for picture display since there are many more windows. Part of the hanging process involved deciding which ones we will continue to store in the furnace room. Husband decided he didn’t want any of his old family pictures hung. That made things a lot easier, as some of them are pretty big.
For some reason I make Husband anxious by my picture hanging method, which involves careful measuring and centering. He worries that the pictures will fall off the walls because the nails and/or fasteners will rip out of the drywall, and wondered why we didn’t secure them in the wall studs. I explained that the hangers pictured in the header photo are very secure and that none of our pictures is so heavy as to require securing in a stud. I think he believes me, but still is anxious about the whole process.
In a tribute to our famous local photographer Jim Brandenburg, we hung all his nature photos in the dining room A large John Coltrane poster graces the area with the piano and Husband’s guitar and cello. The house is really feeling like home.
What are your picture hanging methods? What makes your abode feel like home?
We have a new baby in the neighborhood; they came home on Saturday. These are newish neighbors so I don’t know them super-well. With folks you don’t know, and young to boot, it’s hard to gauge what kind of gift to get. I wasn’t invited to any showers and these days new parents seem to want the types of stuff that I either have never heard of or is out of my price range. I need a small, casual gift. My go-to is the chunk journal.
This is a small photo album, just 4 x 4, with lots of pretty paper and embellishments. The front and back cover is made with corkboard – I get the 4 x 4 coasters online. It’s easy to make and I get to use up stuff from my way-too-big craft stash. Papers, ribbons, stickers, bling. The only problem with the chunk journal is the mess:
I don’t have a plan when I start a chunk journal except the number of pages (I usually do 24 pieces, so places for 48 photos. As I cut paper and take out various embellishments, I don’t put them back right away, as I may want to use them again on later pages. This means my desk is covered in all kinds of stuff that I’m not willing to return to its home until I’m all done with the journal. As I get closer and closer to the end, I get a little more ruffled about the mess. I start to put stuff away in my head. That means I get two endorphin kicks at the end. I’ve finished the gift and I get to start the clean-up. Unfortunately, this is the only time I get all excited about cleaning up in my studio. Rats.
Do you have any go-to gifts (any occasion)? Do you purchase gifts off folks’ registries?
Trail Baboon 