Yesterday Husband and I heard Ravel’s Bolero on MPR. Husband commented, somewhat in jest “Friends don’t make friends listen to Bolero“. I understand that many people find the piece irritating. I recently learned that Ravel was inspired to write the piece after hearing the weaving machines in one of his father’s factories. His father was an engineer and manufacturer, and I can hear the rhythym of the machines in the music. I find that interesting, and the piece has become far more pleasant for me to listen to.
I played bass clarinet one season in the Fargo Moorhead Symphony when I was in college, and we played Bolero. Our music was rented from a national music rental company that rented music to orchestras all over the country. There are interminable sections of rests in the piece, and written into my score in pencil on about the third page of the piece were the words “Nudge Walt”. I asked the clarinet player next to me about it, and he said it was probably in reference to a bassoon player in the Philadelphia Orchestra for the bass clarinet player to alert him that his part was starting. I guess that many orchestra players have written into their contracts that they don’t have to perform Bolero.
I find most classical music wonderful, except perhaps that of Anton Bruckner, who I find ponderous and boring, and Phillip Glass, who I don’t understand at all. I also find I appreciate music the more I know about the composer. My favorite composers right now are Bartok, Sibelius, and Janacek.
Who are your favorite and least favorite composers? What kind of music do you listen to the most?
It was a year ago on the 25th that mom died. Here’s to mom.
This weeks Farming Update from Ben:
It was April of 2021 I started writing these farm updates.
This week I learned if I use the diesel pump for semi’s at the gas station, they pump fast. Like really REALLY fast! Twenty two gallons in about a minute! It’s awesome. I’m gonna make a habit of filling the truck with them when available.
I thought Padawan should have his own set of chainsaw chaps. (We have big plans for summer! He may not know this part of them yet…) I have pretty good chaps from Stihl, a very reputable name. When Kelly bought them for me – I think it was a Fathers Day Present- she said if I was going to have some, they better be good ones. Yep. I’d agree. And now I’m looking at them for P and I’m not sure how much we’ll really need them and good ones are $150+, so I look at cheaper ones and then I think, I’m going to skimp on something that could save his life?? I pictured myself at the ER. “Well, Doc, I thought they’d be good enough.”
I bought him a good Stihl pair.
It’s a little crazy around the farm. I went from late nights in rehearsal to late nights in the tractor. Life is still relentless! Daughter asks me why I’m out in the field. Well, because. Work to be done! I just keep thinking, what if I was still milking cows?? Add another four hours into my day.
Padawan is going to be able to go full time for me this summer. That will be huge. I was listening to a podcast in the tractor the other night and they talked about jobs and how people have ‘soft skills’ and ‘hard skills’. The hard skills can be taught. It’s the soft skills he needs help with. That can be our goal this summer. He’s got some of them, he’s a really nice young man, but he’s 19 and they’re not his focus right now. Just gotta bring them back to the surface.
I had him doing fieldwork. A hard skill.
Get off the phone… a soft skill…
Sold some more straw to the Fire Department. They add it to their practice fires to make smoke. They tell me it’s the least toxic way to make smoke.
The oats is all planted.
Used the new Track Wacker! Or ‘Track Eraser’ as I learned the company calls this machine. It took a little finagling to get it adjusted and folding properly, but it worked great!
Folded and ready to go.
In field position.
Whacking a tire track!
After the first 100 yards I stopped to check and be sure everything was working on the grain drill. That’s when I made a terrible mistake. I backed up with the drill in the ground. The drill uses two disc’s, in a V shape, to get the seed into the ground. The front is the point and makes the seed trench. The back is open. And when I backed up, I filled that open V with dirt. I knew it felt wrong as I backed up and it took driving ahead another 20 yards before I saw it plugging up and knew what I had done. Crap. It’s tough cleaning them out. I had to go back home and get a long screw driver and vice grips and I got all but one cleaned out. The last one I had to take one disc off to get it cleaned. NOTE TO SELF: Don’t do that again.
Wednesday I hooked up the new drag — the new to me drag– and went over all the oat fields. It worked pretty slick!
Got the corn planter out and greased and ready to go. Paddie did that and hauled out deck furniture while I was using the drag. I gotta get a list of jobs for him when I’m doing something else. He needs more self motivation. Is that a hard or soft skill?
I headed out to the corn fields Thursday afternoon. With my buddy.
The chicks and chickens are doing well and they love a field of freshly tilled dirt.
Fresh Dirt!
I thought, what should I listen to as I begin? I chose a ‘favorites’ playlist on shuffle mode and the first song was Mingo Saldivar playing ‘Rueda De Fuego’.
Tex-Mex Ring of fire. Haha- perfect!
Got a good start; enough to check seed depth, placement, and be sure everything was working on the corn planter. Then it rained a bit and I had time to go home and take a nap before coming back for another college show.
Friday was a road trip (me and the dogs) to Byron for a 275 gallon water tote to water the trees. Then to Plainview for parts, then to Wabasha for another 100 trees. Back through Plainview, picked up stump killer for Kelly in her pursuit of buckthorn, and finally home. It was a nice drive.
I planted another 40 tree’s. 60 to go! And it was Arbor Day to boot!
Last Saturday I re-created a dish that I had seen on the internet (love Webspoon – if that’s not the definition of food porn, I don’t know what is). The first step is to whisk 3 eggs with salt and pepper. When I cracked the second egg into the bowl – double yolks! I’m not sure but I think the last time I came up with a double yolk was before YA was born. The internet says the odds are 1 in a 1000. I don’t understand statistics that well, because we go through eggs at a pretty good rate; I would think I would come across them more often.
Of course, when I’m writing this, I’m not feeling particularly lucky but last Saturday it felt like a good thing. It was a pretty day. I made a nice dish using up the last of the tortillas and a jar of my homemade tomato sauce from the freezer – you all know how much I like using up stuff. And I had a concert on Saturday night (Cantus at Westminster downtown) that was spectacular.
Wish the good luck from those yolks could have lasted longer, but I’ll take any good day I can get!
Tortilla Omelette
3 eggs, whisked together with salt & pepper
Add 4 tortillas, rolled up and cut into strips
Add 2 vegetarian brats, chopped up (Webspoon used ham, rolled up and cut into strips)
Add a cup or so of shredded cheese (I used some mozzarella & some Mexican shred)
Pat is all down in a springform pan
Add a cup or so of tomato sauce and spread evenly over top
Add a bit more cheese if you so desire
25 minutes in a 350° oven.
Let it sit for at least 15 minutes to firm up before cutting.
Yum-O
What makes a lucky day for you? Any double yolks recently?
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?
Yesterday about 9:46AM… the vernal equinox. The sun crossed over the equator. i stood outside and watched it.
No. Not really.
Not indicative of any actual person. This was an AI generated cartoon image.
(I started this at work (( Don’t tell!)) and the college uses ‘Co-pilot’ as their AI tool. It won’t use political figures to create an AI image. But it would make a cartoon! Great. Have at it! )
The equinox happened at 9:46 AM for us here in the central time zone. From my daily Weather channel email, I learned an “upright stick in the ground (called a “gnomon,” from the Greek word meaning “to know”) on the equinox, the shadow from an upright stick will mark a straight line East to West.” I marked a shadow and compared it to the compass app on my phone. Hmmm. Is science wrong? I got a shadow about 60° off of North. Hmmm.
You hear about the astroid in Ohio? Also from my daily Weather email:
We now know more about the asteroid that fell from space and shook northeast Ohio on Tuesday morning with a loud boom that grabbed the attention of many residents of Cleveland and beyond.
According to NASA, the asteroid was 6 feet in size, and weighed roughly 7 tons. As it fell, it was seen by eyewitnesses from at least 10 states, plus the District of Columbia and the Canadian province of Ontario, and when it broke apart, it unleashed energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT.
And all we had was a lousy blizzard. Last weekend during the blizzard, I made steaks. Got them out of the freezer earlier in the week. Since grilling was out of the question, I said to Kelly I’d fry them. She’s not a fan of frying foods due to the smoke and grease splatters. I said we grew up with our moms frying meat: I can still picture mom smacking them with a knife to tenderize them. (It wasn’t the best cut of meat in the first place being that it was usually some old milk cow that was butchered and it was mostly made into hamburger), so I grew up not liking steak because I had to smother it with ketchup and it was tough as shoe leather.)
I got the potatoes going, frozen sweet corn going, and poured some olive oil in the hot pan. Oops. The house, like, immediately filled with smoke. All the new smoke alarms, conveniently wired together, start going off upstairs and downstairs. Daughter downstairs was upset, Luna the dog was upset and cowering in a corner. I was trying to get the pan in the sink and rinsed off and cool it off. I opened some doors and windows. Kelly opened windows and was fanning the smoke detectors.
About then I looked at her and said ‘What was it you were saying about smoking up the house?’ And we got the giggles.
I do remember reading something about using a high temp oil. But heck, I don’t have any frame of reference to that; maybe it should have said “Don’t use olive oil, Ben.” Anyway, now I know and they were good and I’ve got left overs for the week.
Daughter still got her walk in during the blizzard. It was a struggle just to get to the shop. And then I had to go out and clear the snow to get the door shut again.
Yep, there was a lot of snow. My family was texting on Monday about cleaning up and digging out. My brother, the keeper of the family history and all the old photos, provided this photo of Dad:
This was taken in the 1970’s. He’s on the upper half of our driveway. I had never seen this photo before and I’m more interested in who trekked out there to take the photo.
I knew of this one:
Man, those guys back then were so much tougher than me.
Here was me dealing with the snowstorm:
Yeah, it was a lot of snow. What that means is it took me an extra hour in the tractor with Bailey and my coat unzipped and the radio on. Oh, woe is me.
The Red Wing Blackbirds are back.
The dogs are enjoying the sunshine.
The chickens are out and about. And it’s muddy all over. Again.
Pretty much got my farm bookwork done for 2025 and need to get that to the accountant.
I got re-elected in the township elections last week and will serve another 3 year term. That will get me 30 years on the board. It’s a good group and I still enjoy doing the work.
One night I couldn’t sleep. My brain was very busy. And the next night I slept hard and had a long-involved dream about being in a tractor with several implements hooked behind me. Some kind of tillage tool, then a wagon, and then a tank of something behind that. I was in a big four-wheel drive tractor. John Deere of course. Headed to a field, driving in Rochester and decided not to go down Broadway, even though I’d seen another tractor there recently. (in the dream). And then took a short cut through someone’s garage. About halfway through realized I was just a little too tall for everything to clear. Backed up (and backing up several things is nearly impossible, but in the dream I did it). Got back out, started to pull away and wasn’t hooked up to the first implement anymore. Got that hooked back up, started to move and the next thing was unhooked. Got that hooked back up. And then the third thing was unhooked and I couldn’t’ understand it; I know it had been hooked up before. It went on from there. Perhaps it was my brain thinking about all the stuff I need to be working on in preparation for the spring play, for planting, for general spring work, or who knows.
Thursday night I spent a few hours in the shop disassembling a massage unit that was getting wonky. It was really interesting and there was some creative and ingenious engineering. Plus I saved all the copper.
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?
It was another Friday the 13th. Any issues for anyone?
And did everyone hang onto their hats Friday? Man, it was windy.
We had a few branches down, nothing serious. One tree down on a township road at 7:30 AM, and I was lucky one of the other supervisors took care of that.
I finally ordered 400 gallons of diesel fuel and 100 gallons of farm gas. The longer I waited, the more it was stressing me out. Prices on diesel fuel are up a about dollar from a year ago. Four hundred dollars isn’t going to make or break us.
Wednesday, we met our attorney to sign a paper regarding the Farm Trust, and I took that to the Farm Service Agency to see if that makes them happy. Sometimes you have to play the game and jump through the hoops. (And that afternoon I had a talk with summer padawan about bureaucracy and hoops, and you can either deal with it or fight everything all the way. That’s part of life. At some point there will be a person in charge of hoops, and they either take care of your hoop paperwork, or your hoop paperwork will never get approved. You get to decide what would be easier in your life. A couple pieces of chocolate and a smile sometimes helps. )
Had a “discussion” with John Deere about the big parts sale. The pitch of my voice went up, and I used a couple bad words. I got all riled up for the hour it took to straighten things out. Ag parts are supposed to be tax exempt, and I didn’t get the discount I expected WHICH WAS THE WHOLE REASON I ORDERED THE PARTS! It was one of those things where the local dealership works different than the online parts order place. I told the guy I wasn’t mad at him; I was mad at the situation. And the local guy was as frustrated as I was. I said they better make sure all the sales people understand because it was not presented to me that way when I called two days ahead to see how to make this work.
The Solution was to return everything (electronically) and redo it through the local dealer. And I filed a tax exemption form to John Deere Parts.com. That was how I spent Thursday morning. By Friday morning it was all straightened out and I saved $250. Almost made up for the diesel fuel! I told the parts manager I appreciated his work and we laughed about some stuff.
I sold the corn I had in storage at the elevator. Price wasn’t really moving. Probably lost money compared to selling it last fall, and I had to pay storage now anyway. As I wrote last week, I am spending money hand over fist, so can always use the money.
The anal weather station sold at the auction for $24. The Culti-packer / roller item I was watching sold for $17,000. Jeepers.
I did get the drag I wanted. Paid more than I wanted. It looked like just me and one other guy bidding on it. I fully expected someone else to come in at the last minute like they do…but they didn’t. Isn’t it something how an item may not have much value until two people want it. Suddenly it’s valuable.
But. It’s mine now. Went with my buddy Paul, and all the dogs, and picked it up Friday morning and pulled it home. Bailey stuck her nose in Paul’s ear for a while, and we learned Luna likes ice cubes.
I’m not exactly sure yet how it unfolds or stands up. There’s a crank and a cable…I’ll figure it out at some point. In the field it will look like this, except not so shiny, or clean, or new, or big, and not such a fancy tractor.
Courtesy McFarlaneag.com
Kelly and I were watching the news the other night. Lamenting ordering diesel fuel and the price, lamenting how prices are going up on crop inputs like Urea, lamenting the cost of the drag, lamenting selling the corn I have in storage. And she said to me, “Are we having fun yet?”. Then we got the giggles.
I said that would be good in the blog and as I added that note to my phone list, I saw another note from a while ago:
“Doris Day, annunciation, nice work if you can get it.” Hmmmm. Was Doris Day annunciated? Kelly thought maybe I met “enunciation” and that rang a bell.
I remember hearing her sing ‘Nice Work if you can Get it’ on the radio and how well she enunciates her ‘T’s. An internet search says:
Key aspects of her vocal style include:
Precision and Clarity: She was known for her ability to deliver lyrics with exceptional clarity, often compared to jazz singers in her phrasing.
Breathy Quality: Some listeners identified a distinct, “breathy” quality in her voice, which was a hallmark of her singing and speaking.
Emotional Control: Day was noted for her ability to convey deep emotion in ballads without sacrificing vocal control.
Technical Skill: Her technique included an impressive ability to manage breath control and blend her belt register with her head voice. *AI Overview, Reddit*
Listen to her sing this. Crisp and clear!
And then I go to Mel Torme because he’s just so cool!
I love that twinkle in his eyes when he’s having fun singing.
From there I think to myself, “What is up with you and these singers??” As a kid, I wouldn’t have touched music like that or those performers with a 10’ pole. And now I love it.
I grew up in the Lutheran church we attend now. I sang in the church choir from Grades 9-12. It was a vibrant musical community. The organist, Mrs Olson, played every Sunday for decades.
We were very active in choir and bells at our ND church, and performed almost every week. It was a shock to find that our new church choir only sings for major holidays like Easter and Christmas. They have bells, but no bell choir. There is a very good guitar/piano/ vocal group that plays every Sunday, and an occasional organist. While they play fairly traditional hymns, they also play a lot of contemporary Christian music, which I don’t care to hear. It is so lacking in substance.
The big problem for the our church music now is that the long-term choir and bell director recently died. She was in her 90’s. There isn’t anyone to take her place. The old organist is still alive, but she is almost 100.
We started choir rehearsals for Easter last week. I hadn’t sung in a choir since we moved. It was such a relief to be able to sing. I didn’t realize how much I missed it, and how important it is for me to perform with others. We will play bells in September at the 75th anniversary celebration of our church’s founding. They have commisdionwd a piece from a composer at St. Olaf. I hope that can morph into more regular ringing.
What activities are essential for your quality of life and well being? What musical groups have you participated in?
I am sure it comes as no surprise that I have had this as an earworm all week.
This got me thinking about the history of protest songs, which I learned goes back centuries. It wasn’t until the 16th century and the invention of the printing press that protest songs were written down. They existed word of mouth before this. After Guttenberg, protest songs were often printed as broadsides and handed out in the streets. They were also sung in taverns and other meeting places. They were composed in response to religious and political upheaval as well as poor working conditions and economic inequality.
I found a recording of a very early German protest song from the 16th Century Peasant Revolt. It champions freedom of thoughts and ideas. It has been somewhat modernized, of course. It is amazing to see how many centuries-old protest songs are available to listen to on-line. One good source was the website for The First Amendment Museum, a museum located in Maine.
Yankee Doodle and A Mighty Fortress are protest songs. I imagine Baboons are most familiar with protest songs from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Husband recomnended this one:
I hope there are protest songs being written right now, and that we get to hear them. They are the earworms we need to have.
What protest songs you are you familiar with? Do some research and find older protest songs from other centuries.
Happy Boxing Day, Baboons! Today is also St Stephen’s Day. I have been thinking all week of this song from the Chieftains and Elvis Costello. We appreciated Boxing Day as a great day off when we lived in Winnipeg.
It has had good company with any number of earworms that have plagued me for a while.
O Canada seems to always be playing in my mind. I also have been hearing Ode to Joy and the hymn Earth and All Stars which has pretty wild lyrics and which I haven’t heard in church for a couple of years. I seem to hear these songs when I wake up in the middle of the night.
For some really strange reason I woke up earlier this week with this playing in my head:
I have no idea where this came from. Why on earth would I dredge this from my memory the week of Christmas?
How do you think we ought to celebrate Boxing Day as a holiday? Any earworms lately? What is your favorite production of Guys and Dolls?
Trail Baboon 