Wannaskan Almanac

Looking for a pen during my stay at Hilton: Garden Inn, in Des Moines/Urbandale, Iowa, on this recent 4th of July 2026 road trip with my daughter, BJ, and her family, I awaited the arrival of two old old terribly old friends who I hadn't seen in real time for over two decades: 'Jeff' from where we used to live on Des Moines' East side; and 'Kerry,' an even older friend whom I met way back in 'Middle School,' in Minnesota-speak, (or as Des Moines locals call it, 'Junior High.') and their car driver, Kerry's son Pat, who I hadn't seen in the flesh for nearly four.  Arranging an early morning meeting around his son's busy social schedule, Kerry asked Pat to drive him; and Jeff, who they would have to pick up first, then me, for an early morning breakfast at the Cozy Cafe , in nearby Johnston. Kerry told me he estimated they'd arrive around 8:20 am to 8:30 am. I didn't sleep very well. Truth was, I couldn't get my cellphone ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for July 8, 2026, the twenty-seventh Wednesday of the year, the third Wednesday of summer, the second Wednesday of July, and the one-hundred eighty-ninth day of the year, with one-hundred seventy-six days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for July 8, 2026 Blue Cohosh Caulophyllum thalictroides — bezhigojiibik, in Anishinaabe — is a species of flowering plant in the Berberidaceae (barberry) family, now sprouting green berries in Wannaskaland. A medium-tall perennial with blue berry-like mature fruits and bluish-green foliage, the common name cohosh is probably from an Algonquian word meaning "rough". The Greek-derived genus name Caulophyllum signifies "stem-leaf", while the specific name thalictroides references the similarity between the large highly divided, multiple-compound leaves of meadow-rues and those of blue cohosh. Indigenous peoples traditions centered around the use of blue cohosh by tribal mid...

While driving my usual 2000 mile summer trip I started to notice something.  It seems like every farm that we passed, and we passed a lot of them, has a slew of old, broken down farm machinery tucked away.  Some of them are right in the yard, others are out in the middle of a field, and some are scattered in forested areas.  I assume that the machinery is left where it either becomes unusable or breaks down. That is just one theory of how these relics end up all over the farm.  Another postulation is that they are decorations.  It is like the whole farm is a giant evergreen tree and each piece of slowly rusting machinery is a piece of garland or tinsel.   I do remember my Aunt and Uncle holding onto different pieces of machinery to use for spare parts.  This had a double benefit.  When you took off a piece of a parts unit you learned a little mare about how it worked and (hopefully) how to put it back together.  And it was much cheaper t...

               THIRD MOVEMENT REMEMBERING   SONG SIXTEEN HUNTERS   I Now that I am dying  and all things can be told I see myself sleeping there believing I was safe within  the rainbow coils     I felt quite self-satisfied for once again I had crossed over set my foot upon an unfamiliar path I had breached another border there would be no turning back At that time I thought  I had come home and closed the door. I assumed I had been delivered to the port of destination             when in fact I had only             just begun to see the more   I looked, then stopped, for the dark child-man I imagined he had crossed a deeper threshold returned to his dream-time fires in some unnamed long ship   As it was I was held close for some length of time in presumed safety of rainbow splend...

  Man Switches Back Joe McDonnell, 79 and residing in Palmville Twp, Minnesota, changed his phone number to a new device then changed it back to the old device all in the same month. "I was recently given a new phone by a friend," he tells reporters. "The battery on my old phone was dying and the new phone had more memory and a better camera. I called the phone company to move my number over. Switching your number to a new device is one of the few things you can't do yourself on the website because it's complicated. I then discovered I couldn't clear my friend's info off the new phone because I didn't have her password and could not get it because my friend had died and hadn't written down the password. The maker of the phone was no help, so after carrying around two phones for a while I switched back to my old phone." In a later communication, McDonnell says he's now looking for a portable battery power pack. "These power packs are ...

Hello and welcome to an Independence Day Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is July 4th. Happy 250th, America! Today's the big day: the celebration of 250 years as united states. I used to poo-poo birthdays, but then I turned 50 and realized that celebration of major milestones and life events is a good thing. So, let's throw the confetti, toot the kazoos and wave our banners. WAKWIR* 1.0 just phoned in from Philadelphia to report on his successful trip to see Big Boy , the world's largest operating steam locomotive he mentioned in his last blog post . "It's HUGE." (Emphasis on the capital letters.) "It's so interesting because usually you think of trains like a passenger or a freight train, but this was neither. It's a heritage train part of the Union Pacific heritage department. Its purpose is to celebrate the history of that specific train." The best part of seeing it with his own eyeballs was that it was REAL. "I've se...