Category Archives: Nature

crops, Farming Update, Nature, Uncategorized

IS IT A HARD KNOCK LIFE? REALLY?

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This week‘s farming update from Ben

No, the Straw isn’t baled yet. Keeps freaking raining every two or three days. I checked it Friday morning and it’s wet underneath, so I’ll be raking it, AGAIN, and planning to bale my last 100 bales on Saturday. I have a neighbor lined up for Sunday to round bale whatever is left. I am optimistic for Saturday though. Monday evening I double raked the one field that had not been raked yet, and then I re-raked the field I had Padawan do and then it rained on Tuesday, about half an inch, the wind came up and the temperature dropped and something happened somewhere because our power went out for about an hour. But according to the electric co-op website, there was like 400 people out of power, so something major happened somewhere, but it didn’t take long to fix. And Friday afternoon I raked it all again.

Yeah, So anyway the straw is not baled yet.

I did get the new spark plug wires made and put on the swather and went to change spark plugs and discovered the guys at Zumbrota NAPA, that seemed to know everything, evidently do not know what kind of spark plugs the swather takes. The ones they gave me sure didn’t fit. I picked up the proper ones in Rochester the next day. Haven’t gotten them replaced yet. Maybe Saturday. I greased most of the swather last Saturday, so will finish that and run it around for awhile just to make it feel needed.

We added the 250 bales from last week to the pole barn on Sunday.

Padawan did OK. He’s not a rockstar at this and he sure complains a lot. I asked him later why does he think everything is supposed to be easy? And I thought to myself ‘where does that come from’? Did he not have enough challenges in his life?

He has really nice hair!

The straw this year sure isn’t that bright golden color you’ve come to expect. And there won’t be much oats left in it after the rain and all the raking. That tends to knock out all the loose oats that is left after harvesting. The strawberry farm likes it better that way. I’m just trying to get the stupid stuff done. At least I don’t have anything planted with it that would be getting smothered. In the old days, and sometimes still, oats is just a cover crop to get alfalfa started. Meaning with all the rain and the straw windrow laying out there for a month, it could be smothering the alfalfa underneath. As it is, the grass and weeds are coming on strong and I need to get it dug up soon in order to plant cereal rye. Too much grass and it won’t go through the tillage machine very well.

I started doing some tillage Friday, made three rounds and the tractor overheated and I had steam coming out under the hood. So that took care of that.

If you look at the header photo, it’s interesting that this year there’s so many soybeans right around here. The farm out on the highway is soybeans, our neighbors are soybeans, and then the fields along our driveway are soybeans. It doesn’t mean there’s more soybeans than corn this year, it just means these 50 acres right here are soybeans. Still, interesting.
Next year the neighbors will be corn and mine might be oats. Crop rotation. Corn and soybeans for some guys. Soybeans, oats, corn for me.

On Tuesday when the cold front came through, I was standing out on the college theater loading dock talking on the phone with Kelly and I realized there were bees flying around me. Yellow jackets were coming back to the nest. They knew the weather was changing. It was kind of interesting watching them all return.

The college name is The Yellowjacket’s.

There was an online auction that ended in Plainview on Tuesday. I picked up a couple of small things: some barb wire and a wire stretcher tool, and also a couple lots of assorted tools that Padawan can use. It’s always interesting how things sell.

I’m just about out of diesel fuel and gasoline for the Farm. I keep watching the prices, especially on diesel fuel, but it sure doesn’t seem like it’s going down. I filled the truck in Plainview at an off brand station, saving $0.10 / gallon compared to the name brands.

Driving into town one morning and the shadow of my car was directly in line with the lane of the road. I chuckled at the Vehicle / Stonehenge similarity.

WHY DOES PADAWAN COMPLAIN SO MUCH? *

WHO TOLD YOU LIFE WOULD BE EASY?

*I’m beginning to realize sometimes he’s just talking, but it’s his tone. And I told him, If I didn’t know him, I’d fire his ass because his attitude sucks.

He is waiting to hear about another job…

2026, animals, Family, Kids, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

Bats

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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?

2026, animals, Automotive, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Music, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

WARNING: TWENTY FOOT CIRCLE OF EXASPIRATION!*

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*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? 

2026, animals, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Fireflies

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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?

2026, animals, education, Family, Nature, Travel

It Was Wild!

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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?

2026, animals, education, Family, Nature, Travel

Columbus Zoo Day

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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!

Do you have a favorite animal?

2026, animals, In Memorium, Nature

Edith vs. Squirrels

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Yesterday was the anniversary of the day we lost Edith, our LIttle Jail Bird. Here is another of her posts – one of my favorites!

****

Jim’s comment “The squirrels around here seem to be unusually pesky” got me thinking about how much I hate squirrels. South Minneapolis squirrels seem to be especially hateable. People who say squirrels are “cute” either are crazy or they haven’t seen the squirrels in my neighborhood.

When I grew vegetables in my yard, it was an endless source of frustration to see tomatoes get almost to the point of perfect ripeness and then find it lying on the driveway with a squirrel bite taken out of it. The thought of eating a tomato that had been handled by one of those rodents deterred me from ever cutting off the bitten part; my compost pile was the only thing that benefitted from the squirrel leavings (and, actually, the compost pile didn’t benefit, either – see below).

I now only grow herbs and fruits and flowers in my yard. Squirrels like to dig in the planter boxes on the front porch or any freshly turned dirt and also do things like eat tulips off stems before they open their blooms. But at least they aren’t eating my food.

One time a squirrel got into my house. I’m not sure how…but you haven’t seen pure craziness until you’ve seen a squirrel dashing around your house at full speed.

We’ve all heard about how squirrels rob bird feeders of the bird food. If you have an open compost pile, to which you add food scraps, in your yard in south Mpls, you are basically operating a free restaurant for squirrels.

But the real reason I hate squirrels? They hate me. Here’s proof. Those of you who also live in the city of Mpls know that the big gray garbage bins the city provides us for our trash are pretty tough. But they’re not tough enough for south Mpls squirrels. Our diabolical neighborhood squirrels chewed a squirrel-sized hole in the lid of my trash bin. They would then go inside the bin and enjoy snacks 

(this was before I composted most of my food scraps). Then, I out I came, blissfully unaware of any danger, with a bag of trash to put in the bin. I threw open the lid – and SHAZZZAAAMMM out flew anywhere from one to three squirrels in my face. They ran away, laughing hysterically at my scream, and plotting when they can do that again.

I learned to kick the trash bin several times and then stand back before I lifted the lid. After the squirrels escaped, I gave it another kick, then waited to make sure they were all gone before I carefully lifted the lid and tossed in the bag. But sometimes in my usual spacey way, I would forget to kick – and once again the squirrels would enjoy their dominance over me.

Any “cute” object or animal driving you crazy this week?

2026, animals, Family, Food, Mysteries, Nature, Travel, TV

Buckeyes

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We got to Columbus about 9:30 a.m. on a Friday morning and after picking up the rental car, we got to the hotel well before check-in time… in fact we were there before check-out time.   We knew this was a possibility so we left my phone number with the front desk and headed out.

Started with lunch at The Rusty Bucket.  Veggie burgers, fries and fried pickles.  Best fried pickles ever.  It was a gorgeous day and we sat near the big open windows so there was a great breeze.  Then we headed over for a hike to Indian Falls.  We walked quite a bit down of pathway before we realized that the little gurgling “rapids” we had passed earlier were the actual falls. Guess living so close to Minnehaha Falls, I had bigger expectations.  But it was pretty and we got to pet a few dogs along the way.

I know I mentioned Anthony Thomas Candies earlier; we found an Anthony Thomas Candy Shoppe outlet between the falls and our motel.  Anthony Thomas is a fourth-generation company that started as a Dairy Co-op in 1932 and following a couple of expansions, in 1952 they began making what is now their signature candy – the buckeye – peanut butter filling surrounded by milk chocolate.  They make 14 million buckeyes a year and are recognized by Ohio State University for the licensing of the candies.   We found a little box of what they call their “oops” – seconds.  Neither YA nor I could figure out what was wrong with them.  They were delicious – and cheaper!

Quick stop at a grocery store for a few bottles of pop/water for the fridge in our room and then headed back to the motel for our check-in.  Showers, lunch leftovers for dinner and we found Banana Ball on ESPN.  In a complete reversal of our usual roles, I am a BB fan, YA is not.  However she humored me.

Set our alarms to make sure we got up early enough for our adventure on Saturday.  Not bad for a travel day, no?

Do you have a candy that you would eat, even if it were an “oops”?

2026, animals, Automotive, Computers, Family, Mysteries, Nature, Technology, Travel, Uncategorized

YA in Charge

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We went to Columbus because I love the television show “Secrets of the Zoo”.  It ran for five seasons beginning in 2018 and spawned “Secrets of the Zoo Tampa”, “Secrets of the Zoo North Carolina” and “Secrets of the Zoo Down Under”.  Down Under was resurrected a couple of years ago for an additional season and depending on what you’re willing to believe on the internet, there MAY be a Season 8.  I was (am?) addicted to these shows – loved seeing the animals and the folks who cared for them.  I’ve definitely seen all the episodes of all the show and most of them more than once. 

The original Secrets explored the behind the scenes lives of the animals, the zoo keepers and the zoo vets.  They also shared each episode with The Wilds, a safari park and conservation area about 90 minutes from Columbus.  It looked as fascinating as the zoo.

When Guinevere passed away, YA and I were suddenly free to travel together – something that hadn’t happened for about 5 years.  We decided that going to Columbus to see the Zoo and the Wilds would be perfect. 

As is my norm, I immediately got a binder out and made tabs for air, hotel, rental car, cat boarding, zoo, Wilds and miscellaneous. 

YA used her work “points” for the rental car, spent some On the Fly cards for the air and got a smokin’ hot rate at a hotel using her Iatan status.  Turns out we even got Comfort + seating because she’s got a gazillion Delta miles.  I asked her for confirming emails for everything so I could print them out – she begrudgingly did this commenting that it wasn’t necessary since she had all the info on her phone.  Even the kitty boarding place sent everything via text and email.  But not to be outdone, I dragged the binder with us to Columbus.

Because we were leaving at an ungodly hour from Minneapolis, YA set up Lyft transfers (cheaper than the off-site lots at the airport).  Once we got to Columbus, she did all the driving because it would have cost extra every day to add a driver.  So I let her choose the car.  I didn’t even know what hotel we were going to before we drove up.  She had handled that as well, including making sure it was a double/double configuration. 

Really the only thing I was in charge of was the Zoo and the Wilds.  Even those were handling with QR codes (used our MN Zoo membership to get a discount) and getting emails with links and receipts.  Just had to flash my phone at the entrance of both. 

Suffice it to say, YA was mostly in charge of everything during the trip and I didn’t open my binder one single time.  It felt kind of freeing but sigh… the times they are a changin’.

How has travel changed for you over the years?  For the good or for the bad?

2026, gardening, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Water Feature

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The previous owners of our home spent a lot of money on landscaping in the backyard. I have never had such a fancy backyard. We added the fence. There is a fire pit:

We also have lots of brick paved areas with rock-filled beds for plants:

Those are some of the largest hostas I have ever seen. We never had hostas before. The rest of the plants are lower maintenance shrubs, Stella d’oro lillies, and succulents. They didn’t even have rhubarb!

I think they went a little over the top with the water feature, however. It is a bubbling brook powered by an electric pump submerged in a deep vat at the bottom of the brook. It is plugged into an electric outlet by the fence. The pump has to be removed every fall so it won’t freeze up over the winter. It is not easy to remove or reinstall.

The birds love the brook. It has to be refilled every other day or so or the pump starts to make groaning noises. I plan to turn over the stones with the words carved in them, as I think those are a silly affectation and they annoy me.

The dogs love to plunge in the brook at the top and slide down to the bottom. I would never put such a thing in a yard, and I absolutely hate all the rocks in the flower beds as they make weeding and replanting a lot more work than they need to be. I plan to put in roses and hydrangeas and spring bulbs next year, but we need to clear a lot of rocks from every side of the house before that happens.

If you had to have a water feature in your yard, what kind would you get? What words would you have carved in flat stones in your yard?