Wannaskan Almanac

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for November 11, 2026, the forty-fifth Wednesday of the year, the eighth Wednesday of fall, the second Wednesday of November, and the three-hundred fifteenth day of the year, with fifty days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for November 11, 2026 Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus  — mooningwane in Annishinaabe — are partial migrants, some southern populations south of Wannaska being completely non-migratory. Those that do migrate tend to begin their spring migration into Canada towards the beginning of April and make their return between September and November. This discrepancy makes sense if one considers their ground foraging behavior, where prey can only be found in snow-free locations. During migration, northern flickers may form flocks. Interestingly, their propensity for roosting in cavities is not mitigated during migration. On average, seventy-five per cent of individuals spend their nights in a cavity during migrati...

I have often wondered how many people set their alarm (either clock or urinary urge) to go off at 1 AM so they can be the first to read the Wannaskan Almanac every Tuesday.  Of course, I can just look at the views total so I do have that data available.  I would post it here but I don't want to disillusion anyone.   Today we return to Fractured History.  As I approach the end of my run as an Almanac writer, I feel the need to return to my sarcastic roots.  Those roots have enabled me to avoid building a huge following, which in turn has helped me live a modest and ordinary, private life.  I would hate to have people banging on the door or interrupting me at restaurants asking for autographs or a snip of hair.   Enjoy! 1584 William Louis of Nassau appointed Stadtholder of Friesland Bears.  Before football, Stadts were used for kicking field goals in an attempt to secure extra points for royalty as they endeavored to win over the general p...

THIRD MOVEMENT REMEMBERING   SONG EIGHTEEN A VOICE BETWEEN   III I keep moving retracing steps I decide the City will be next I intend to confront it – I will not wait             to find that old terrain and know its sound Back to the city – back to gray walls journeying outward, inward – burning ground   I continue with courage heading there and time being a relative thing dances and laughs in shifts and shimmers             as I open to hear the City’s old sound First, a river flowing inside a littered border that I hardly saw when I ran anxious  to join the gray-skulled order   Now there is time and I will proceed             and proceeding I will begin and beginning I will know the river’s voice that sings to me            ...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 41 Man Shares Treats Joe McDonnell, 79 and a resident of Palmville Township, Minnesota, recently brought coffee and treats with his wife to a friend at the nursing home. "We know our friend residing at the nursing home loves watching the Sunday football game" McDonnell tells the press, "so we thought it would be a good time to visit and bring her treats. We went to the facility dining room and got a carafe of coffee before going to our friend’s room. We were surprised to find her asleep. I cleared my throat and when she didn’t stir, we closed her door and visited another friend across the hall. This friend usually doesn't like treats but does like coffee. On this day she took one of our treats but declined the coffee. We had coffee and treats and watched Little House on the Prairie with her for awhile." In a later communication, McDonnell says the friend they originally meant to visit couldn't believe she slept through t...

Hello and welcome to a goofy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is November 7th. I'm 5/12ths of the way through my 51st year. Hunters are out and about gleefully tromping through the woods, taking up residence in their deer stands, eager to get a big one sooner rather than later. Weather forecast looks good with a high of 53. We aren't hunters at our house, but we can get excited for our neighbors and peeps. It's good to feel good. Passing it along now to the Kid-Writer-in-Training to provide our WA readers - or, as he would say, "Weaders" - some updates in his own words! As you would think, all of my friends are going hunting. Or playing hockey this weekend. So I have nothing to do. Thankfully, I have a different adventure. I get to go to Brainerd with my mom. We're going to be leaving "at the butt crack of dawn," as my mom says. The reason for leaving super early is because it's a 4-hour trip all the way down to Brainerd. We are gonn...

  I'm on my eighth pope. Leo XIV is a young man so I pray he's my last. When I first arrived on the scene, Pope Pius XII had already been on the job eight years. He had been elected to the papacy in 1939, just as WWII was breaking out. He has a controversial legacy. Some say he failed to speak out against the Holocaust. His supporters say he saved thousands of Jews from extermination. The debate is ongoing. The church has named him "venerable," the first step towards canonization. Pius XII was not a warm and fuzzy pope. What I remember most about him is his death in 1958. We paid a lot of attention to the papacy in my Catholic elementary school. Once Pius was in his tomb in the grotto under St. Peter's, we turned our attention to the election of the new pope. When it was announced that white smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, Sister Eubestrabius said Habemus papem , boys and girls.We have a pope! Everyone loved Pope John XXIII. He lived...