Tag Archives: Featured

2024, education, Family, Uncategorized, work

Continuing Education

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In order for me and Husband to maintain our licenses to practice psychology in ND, we need to complete 40 hours of approved continuing education every two years. At least twenty of the hours must be from live presentations (which can be accessed either in-person or on-line). At least three must be on ethics. This is pretty standard for most licensed mental health professions.

We needed to have our 40 hours completed by this October 31. I started out September with only 12 hours, so I had to scramble to get the rest completed. It wouldn’t look too good if the president of the licensing board didn’t have her hours done on time. I spent time doing some on-line trainings, and spent most of last week in Bismarck at a conference that got me to a whopping 51 hours for the biennium. Husband was ahead of me in terms of hours, and completed his final three hours in an ethics workshop last week.

This is probably the last time we need to complete the continuing education requirements for licensure, since we plan to be fully retired two years from now, and have no intention of remaining licensed after we move to Minnesota. Husband commented that now we can do whatever trainings we want, whether in psychology or other topics, and this made me wonder what I want to continue to learn about. I want to learn to speak German. i want to delve more into my family history and the history of Ostfriesland. This could be really fun. I might want to learn more about the history of psychology, but we will see about that.

What are you learning about now? Did you have to attend required trainings for your job? If so, what were the best and the worst?

2024, animals, Mysteries, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized

Amazing Cell

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Yesterday I trekked over to Gertens; I had a great coupon.  Normally just a coupon wouldn’t get me to drive over there but they do carry that hot bird seed that I like, so figured a chunk of change off one of those cylinders would be nice. 

It took me a bit to find the seed cylinders – they’re ramping up their Christmas stuff and have moved a lot of the endcaps around in the feed department.  When I did come around the corner, what confronted me was a TON of products from the company who makes the hot stuff.  The photo above is the endcap with all of it.

Right next of my Flaming Hot Feast there was another big cylinder called Burning Love.  I looked at them both, different ingredients although both seemed to have the hot pepper that deters the squirrels.  But at the price point, I didn’t want to make a mistake.  As I stood there considering my options, it occurred to me that I could check online to see the difference.  And then I had the ephiphany that I could just call the company directly.  A helpful woman answered the phone right away and let me know that the difference was that Burning Love is just safflower seeds with hot pepper.  Flaming Hot Feast has a bigger variety of seeds with hot pepper. 

The Burning Love was almost a pound heavier at the same price point, so I decided to give it a try.  As I walked away, I thought about the amazing thing I had just done – used a small hand held device to call a company in Texas for no cost to get an immediate answer.  (Yes, I am aware I could have found someone who worked at Gertens and asked them, but I think this was faster.)  While I sometimes think technology is too big for its britches, yesterday I loved my cell phone.

Any technology that has amazed you recently?

2024, Family, Food, Nature, Uncategorized

No Bad Apples Here!

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YA and I had one of “traditional” weekends.   We spent a day at the Zoo (new zoo), mostly to see the baby tigers.  Two Amur tigers were born in the end of May, one little girl and one little boy.  They’ve been out on exhibit for three weeks and are a cute as can be.  We started there, at Tiger Lair and after walking through all the rest of the zoo, we circled back and watched the babies some more.   Packed our own lunch and ate outside in the sunshine.  Lovely.

In what is our most enduring tradition, we headed out to pick apples as well.  I picked apples even before YA was born; she was three when she went for the first time.  We’ve done this almost every since then.  No apples picking in 2019 when she broke her foot and had survey for plates and pins.  And no apples in 2020 when most of the orchards didn’t open for ‘Pick Your Own’.  Even her first year at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire we did apples.  She called me the end of September and asked if I could come visit the next weekend and could we find a place to pick apples.  No problem!

So now we have a peck of Connell Red, half peck of Honeycrisp and half peck of Kinder Krisp.  Since I refused to go down the pumpkin spice trail, which is rampant at this time of year – time to ramp up apple recipes.  I’ve already made an Apple Manchego salad – apples and Manchego cheese sliced into matchsticks, tossed with a bit of lemon, olive oil and chives.  The crumble topping for Apple Crisp is done as well – two recipes of it – in the fridge for use in the next week or so.

I have some really cute molds to make hand pies.  The pie crust is thawing in the fridge.  If I’m remembering correctly, one package of pie crust should make six hand pies.  Just the right number for the two of us.  Mixed Berry & Apple bars are in the running, although the recipe doesn’t use too much apple.  I found two savory dishes.  The first is a Brussel sprouts apple salad with a citrus maple vinaigrette and the second is an apple cabbage sausage back (using vegetarian sausages).  Not sure if I’ll be able to tempt YA with Brussels sprouts, but I might try.   We’ll probably end up freezing some of this stuff, otherwise we’ll both start looking like apples ourselves!!

Any favorite apple recipes?  Or have you succumbed to pumpkin spice this year?

2024, Family, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

Hamilton

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At the end of her work program in London, YA took a couple more days just for herself.  She transferred to a hotel in the City (the group program had been in Hampshire) and enjoyed her time walking around, seeing the sights, doing a bit of shopping. 

On Friday I got a text asking if $120 was too much money to spend on a Hamilton ticket.  My first response, as a cheap, miserly old mom was to discourage her from blowing a wad on anything.  It’s almost always my go-to position, sorry to say.

But as I thought about it for a bit I realized a couple of things.  #1 – she is a grown woman, enjoying time in London.  If she has the money for it, this would be a wonderful memory of her trip. (And truth be told, I’ve been to the theatre in London and remember it fondly [although I didn’t have to pay for it myself].)  #2 – paying $120 for a ticket to Hamilton in London is basically stealing it.    I sent her a text telling her to go for it.

She chose the Saturday matinee so she could walk to/from during daylight.  Then she texted me that her ticket was in a box.  When I asked why, she said it was the best deal at that showing.  She got there pretty early so was able to sent photos of her box (the header photo) and this photo showing the view from the box. 

Apparently her box price included a drink and a snack, which was provided by the butler, whose services were also included as part of the box.  My goodness.   And then, as if enough fortune hadn’t already given her a wink and a nod, the other three seats in the box remained unsold.  So for $120 she got a private box, a butler, a drink and snack, a walking transfer and, of course, Hamilton.  What a way to go!

I’m so happy that she was able to have this marvelous experience and so so glad that I got over myself and didn’t spoil her fun. 

Can you ever remember a time you’ve given dubious advice? Taken dubious advice?

2024, books, Fantasy, Movies, Music, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Wicked. Really?

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I’ve said before that I’d love to have been in the room when someone first proposed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  My guess is that everybody in the room dismissed the idea; the one who didn’t laughed all the way to the bank.

It’s fascinating to me how certain decisions get made and the decisions that Hollywood makes are the most mysterious.  You all know that I often get worked up by the changes that Hollywood makes to good books.  Shining Through by Susan Isaacs, Dune by Frank Herbert, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.  And I’m sure I’ve ranted before about The Hunchback of Notre Dame made into a Disney musical for kids.  Truly that meeting would have been legend.  “Let’s take a long, bleak historical novel in which every single major character is dead by the last page, add some peppy songs and make a happy ending for everybody.” 

So why am I ranting again?  A couple of weeks ago I saw a commercial for Wicked, a movie coming out this winter.  I had never actually read Wicked by Gregory Maguire but I knew it was quite long so assumed there were some differences between the book and the musical (which I HAVE actually seen). You all know me well enough to know what came next; I went and got the book from the library.

What a shock.  Without really giving anything away, here are the only similarities between the novel and the musical.  There is a green gal.  She goes to school, meets someone who becomes a friend and is taught by a speaking animal.  Some flying monkeys.  That’s about it… while some of the characters in the book show up in the musical, it’s in name only – they aren’t really the same as in the book.   The book is incredibly detailed and political although certainly not satire.  It is not even remotely light hearted and the ending is not happy at all; it’s a bit like Hunchback – a lot of bodies have piled up by the end.

Of course, the initial Wizard of Oz movie differed from the book but the jump from Wicked to the musical is such a leap that I’m still a little stunned, even a week after finishing the book.  Once again, I try to imagine the conversation that got the book transformed to a musical that is so different.  Somebody in that room must have laughed all the way to the bank.  And it wouldn’t have been me.

What’s the most incomprehensible movie you’ve ever seen?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

Party On!

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The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

Menards has Christmas decorations out. Oh my…

We got a little rain Thursday night. For the heavy storms, large hail, and wind they were predicting, we got about 3/10 of an inch. It was a nice rain and we needed it.

I’ve been seeing some of the neighbors chopping corn, and some of the YouTube farmers I watch are chopping, and it’s amazing how much the technology has changed in this regard in the last 30 years. While many large dairy farms are still using bunkers and pits for silage, a few are going back to cement upright silos. One place I watch on YT had 3, 100′ tall silos built this summer. Two for corn silage, and 1 for haylage. (Haylage or silage is the entire crop all chopped up; The stalk and ear, or the alfalfa, rye, sorghum, whatever, all chopped up, and packed and allowed to ferment. It may be in an oxygen limiting silo ((the blue ‘Harvestore’ ones)) or the plain cement ones.) Bunkers are faster to fill, but take more manpower and equipment to fill, pack, cover, and unload. Upright silos fill a bit slower and take a little more routine maintenance, but they settle on their own and pack strictly from its own weight, and they seem to be automated enough, especially nowadays, that feeding takes a lot less work.

And now they have cameras in the silos to monitor operation, and the electrical cable travels inside and doesn’t need to be moved from door to door. It’s been kind of fun to see and reminisce. There’s a young man climbing the 100′ silos– keyword “young man”… Not sure I’d be doing that anymore.

We used two 18′ diameter, by 50′ tall silos. One for 1st crop hay chopped and filled in June, and the other for corn, filled in September. Usually the primary ingredient for dairy cattle ration is corn silage. Course it depends on geography. In some places it’s grass or hay. Every farm is different. Our cows got ground corn inside the barn, (plus minerals and protein supplements) but they got hay and corn silage outside, plus grass in summer.

The hay silage is dusty, and once a month I’d have to go up the chute and open up a lower door and move the unloader arm down, and every couple of months move the electrical cable and it was just a dusty dirty terrible job. Corn Silage wasn’t as dusty, but still had to open the doors and move the cable and do regular maintenance on the unloaders, and chop off what was frozen to the walls in the spring… it was a whole big thing. I don’t miss a lot of it.

The Custom guys are chopping with these huge eight or ten row choppers that can go across the rows if needed, they don’t have to follow the rows. Then it’s loaded into trucks, or tractors and wagons that follow the chopper and are filled almost automatically, and it’s so much easier than it was 30 years ago when I was doing it with our 2 row pull type chopper. Again, just fun to see

I managed to have one afternoon and a couple hours one other day to work in my shop. Got some sill plates bolted to the concrete floor and I have one post up.

Here is old technology mixed with new. A plumbob and a laser!

I took in some fire extinguishers to be renewed. This one from 1995 still worked great!

I showed daughter how to pull the pin and spray it around. Got a new one to replace this old one.

This week is Tech rehearsals for a 1920s jazz musical called ‘The Wild Party’ at the Rep Theater. Spending a lot of time here getting the new lights hooked up and the lightboard talking to the laptop. (Had to call in an expert to help do that). Here’s a picture of the lighting board from the tour ‘Back to the Future’ at the Orpheum.

Here is our new board at the Rep.

Their board has more knobs and screens. They win.

I did get a new battery put back in Kelly‘s tractor and had that running for a while. But there was a few wisps of smoke coming from under the dash, and the lights don’t work, so I assume I’m not done working on that yet.

And the 630 starter is making a funky sound.

And the 4-wheeler that I put the new carburetor on isn’t working again.

And the lawnmower still quits after it gets hot.

I have some things to work on yet.

Thursday night the dogs met a skunk.  I wasn’t there, Kelly and daughter were. We thought Bailey got the worst of it and she got a special bath (thank you Kelly), but this morning it was Humphrey that smells. Everyone is just staying outside for now.

Can you snap your fingers? Did I ask this before?  The musical director for this show, snapped her fingers LOUDLY, with a real good SNAP for almost the entire 2 hour rehearsal! After rehearsal I asked to see her fingers. I wanted to see if those fingers were twice as big as the rest. No, but she has a callous on that one finger. It’s interesting how that must be a young person’s thing. Daughter can snap good, too. I get a muffled little snap.

Not counting groans and moans, how many noises can you make with your body?

2024, Food, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized

Big Moon and Travel Food

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I spent Monday-Thursday in Bismarck attending a behavioral health conference. Husband stayed home, so I was on my own for meals and entertainment.

The business office at my agency arranged for and paid for me to stay at a quite adequate Bismarck hotel, nothing fancy. It had the typical “free” breakfast that was pretty awful, so I grabbed coffee and a pastry at a coffee shop on the way to the conference site. The conference provided quite fatty and sugary snacks at breaks. I walked to a noodle shop near the conference for lunch, and ate grocery store salads, hummus, naan bites, cheese, and fruit in the evenings in my room. Entertainment was just watching Forensic Files until I was ready to fall asleep.

I don’t like to eat in restaurants by myself, and I know that I am pretty spoiled regarding the food I eat at home. I know that in other parts of the country the options for food on the fly are better than in Bismarck. I was so glad to get home on Thursday afternoon and start planning the menu for the weekend. We are having white beans with clams and Spanish chorizo.

I was also in Bismarck during the the recent super moon and eclipse. A friend of ours who lives on the Fort Berthold Reservation was at a sports event in Mandan and took the following photo.

I couldn’t see the moon from my hotel room in Bismarck. I am not much of a star gazer, but I sure wish I could have got a glimpse of this in real life.

What foods do you opt for in food deserts or places like Bismarck? What would you like to view with a telescope? What is the best travel food you ever had?

2024, education, Fantasy, Games, Uncategorized

AArrrggghhh

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Photo credits:  MIT PE Department

If you thought that getting a degree from MIT was all work and no play, you’d be wrong.

Since 2011, if you complete Physical Ed classes in Archery, Fencing, Pistol (Air Pistol or Rifle) and Sailing, you are eligible for the MIT Pirate Certificate.  I am not making this up.                                                                                                                                   

From the MIT website:

“The MIT Pirate Certificate is only made available to MIT students and is an incentive for undergraduate students to complete their Physical Education & Wellness General Institute Requirement of 4 physical education & wellness courses. It is not a stand-alone certificate. Non-MIT courses and life experience are not counted towards completing the certificate. The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities.”

 I think raising a mug of rum to MIT would be appropriate on Talk Like a Pirate Day!

How do you make a pirate angry?

2024, Art, holidays, Mysteries

Sticky Situation

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You’d think I would know better.

Working on a holiday project today involving pieces of tile, pieces of cardstock and a spray adhesive.  I had everything set up on a big tray and headed to the back yard; I don’t like doing spray adhesive or sealant in the house. 

It’s a new spray adhesive for me and as soon as I sprayed the first tile, I had it all over my hand (the hand holding the tile).  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Since I figured it was already too late, I kept going, doing all 24 of the tiles.  If I’d used my brain I would have stopped after the first one, washed quickly and put on a plastic glove.  We have plenty of them. 

Instead I’ve now spent over an hour getting all the glue off.  Hot water and soap, Quik Clean (a waterless cleaner), more hot water, pumice stone with soap, polish remover.  And technically it’s not all off yet. 

When was the last time you should have stopped, but didn’t?

2024, animals, Family, History, home, Music, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Pampered Pets

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We always had dogs when I was growing up.  The main two that I remember were Princess the Wonder Dog and Irish Colleen but there were a few others when I was quite young and then my moms golden retrievers about the time I went off to college.

It was much more casual having a dog back then.  No special bowls, just some dry kibble a couple of times a day.  No dog beds in multiple rooms of the house.  No walking dogs; when it was time for their business, you opened the door and let them out (fence or not fence).  No brush of teeth.  No flea and tick treatment, no heartworm pills.  No crates even.

It’s a whole `nother world now.  At our house, Guinevere is technically YA’s dog, so we pretty much play by her rules.  So yes, we have a crate, fenced yard, multiple leashes, all the vet treatments, teeth brushing, regular baths and nail clippings.  And beds (at least 3 of them).  Guinevere gets dry dog food mixed with a large spoonful of wet food twice a day.  Several kinds of dog treats.  Water upstairs and down.  A massive number of toys. Clothes and hats (which she detests).

But the funniest (at least to me) is pet music when we leave the house.  YA has decided that just chilling in her crate when we are both out of the house is stressful for Guinevere if she doesn’t have music in the background.  Since the crate is in the breakfast room, before we leave the house, YA calls out “Alexa, play classical for pets”.  Apparently we are not alone in this because every three or four times, Alexa asks if we want to subscribe to the Music for Pets channel/playlist and pay good money for it.  When we decline, then Alexa goes ahead with assorted classical music for pets. Personally I wouldn’t say that Guinevere likes or dislikes the classical – doesn’t seem to make her more relaxed – I think she’s already calm in her kennel.  And since she is YA’s dog, I play along. 

Every now and then if I’m leaving after YA and know I’m getting home before she does, I ask Alexa to play salsa music, or Peter Mayer or Enya – whatever comes into my head as I’m leaving.  Guinevere does not appear to be traumatized by this.

I try to imagine going back in time to my childhood and then having somebody from the present tell me how spoiled my dog is these days, including having to have music on when we leave the house.  I’m sure I would have fallen down on the floor laughing.

What kinds of things do you like when you’re being pampered?