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Word-Wednesday, April 18, 2018

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, April 18, 2018, brought to you by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Forestry Division, Wannaska Branch, "If you plant them, they will grow."


April 18 is the 108th day of the year with 257 days remaining until the end of the year, 348 days remaining until April Fools Day.

Earth/Moon Almanac for April 18, 2018
Sunrise: 6:27am; Sunset: 8:19pm
Moonrise: 8:21am; Moonset: 11:24 pm, waxing crescent

Temperature Almanac for April 18, 2018
            Average    Record   Today
High     53             83           48
Low      29             11            29

April 18 Celebrations
National Animal Crackers Day
National Columnists’ Day
National Lineman Appreciation Day

Notable historic April 18 events, literary or otherwise
Confederate General Johnson surrenders to General William T. Sherman in North Carolina, 1865
San Francisco earthquake, 1906
Edith Wharton is appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award, for her contribution to the war effort, 1916
First crossword puzzle book published by Simon & Schuster, 1924

Word-Wednesday Pun



Today's edition of Wannaskan Almanac Word-Wednesday examines gerunds and gerunding:
ger·und, ˈjerənd, noun, a form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing, without exception. So gerunds will be subjects, subject complements, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. Find and identify the various gerund forms:
  • Ever since he was two years old, asking "Why? has been Thor's life-long commitment.
  • Thor's life-long commitment is asking "Why?".
  • Thor likes asking "Why?" almost as much as he likes to spend time with Chairman Joe.
  • Apart from Chairman Joe and Guinness, Thor gives asking "Why?" to every moment of his retirement.
  • When Thor set down his Guinness to speak, he affirmed the importance of his lifelong commitment to asking "Why?".
Present participles also end in -ing, but such participles complete progressive verbs, or modify other words. Find and identify the present participles:
  • One day last July, Chairman Joe and Thor were drinking Guinness.
  • When Thor set down his Guinness to ask Chairman Joe, "Why?", John quietly absconded with Thor's Guinness bottle from Thor's custom Guinness drinking bottle cozy.
Gerunds enliven otherwise passive language because they imbue nouns with a sense of action: pathing, earthing, greening, and for Thor and Chairman Joe - roundabouting.

In honor of gerunding and the importance of climate-changing as a positive activity - as opposed to a passively received outcome - we've ordered 500 seedling trees, Jack Pines and Red Pines, to plant ourselves and to distribute without cost [free] to anyone who would like to stop by to pick up trees to do climate-changing elsewhere. We'll announce the the seedling arriving on some future Monday and Wednesday Wannaskan Almanac May 2018 postings, which will be your cue to let us know when you'll stop by to pick up your trees.

Being better than yesterday, learning a new word today, and to staying out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.

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