Beaches, Boats & Bugs (And a Little Happiness on the Side)

Hello and welcome to the first Saturday in August, here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is the beginning of the end.

Yes, as we step into August, this means that September is fast on our heels. September is supposed to mean back to school – and it surely will in some form depending on where you live – which makes August the last chance summer dance.

We can all agree that it’s been a wonky summer with fewer adventures and yet the time has gone by incredibly fast. In a few weeks, the Oldest will be heading off to college (and that’s before we even get into September.) This past week, Governor Walz announced Minnesota’s “Return to School” plan and, wow, that means I’m actually thinking about kids needing new shoes and that the two sizes too small pants are probably not going to cut it come fall. At least we have plenty of leftover school supplies we can repurpose this year!

But NO! Let’s not talk about school quite yet! One month-ish of summer vacation is still one month(ish) of summer vacation. Let’s enjoy it! Here are three activities and one cool drink from our house to yours to help you get the most out of these last few weeks of summer.

Beaches – Hello, this is Minnesota! Land of 11,842 lakes, according to my Google search. (Note: I totally get why whoever came up with “The Land of 10,000 Lakes” rounded down. 12,000 just doesn’t have the right ring to it.) There’s enough shoreline to go around in this state! We have two favorite spots: Zippel Bay State Park and a public beach near Arnesen’s Rocky Point Resort. Where’s your favorite beach? Share in the comments here or on Facebook!

Boats – So, we final did it. We “broke” the television. *wink, wink* Without The Paw Patrol and Teen Titans to entertain the kiddos, they have gone on to discover they have amazing imaginations. The first day after the technical difficulty, the Second Grader (soon to be Third Grader, but we won’t think about that now) and the Toddler (soon to be Kindergartner. Same.) crafted their very own boat with plastic yogurt cups and duct tape. With no bidding from me. And it floats! The yellow rubber ducky had a successful first sail. In a weak moment, I bought them a bag of Skittles at the gas station and instead of inhaling the candy like their mother would, they decided that the round, rainbow candies needed “time to hatch.” As far as I know, they’re still incubating.

Please ignore the crud on the bottom of our sorry-looking kiddie pool.

Bugs – Sometime in the month of July (it’s all a blur), I listened to an MPR story about how the radio journalist took his son out bug hunting. They spied a few interesting ants and whatnot, but then they saw this huge ant and so the dad snapped a pic and sent it to his entomology buddy at the University of Minnesota and the guy was all like, “Dude! That’s not an ant. That’s a wingless wasp! I hope you didn’t touch it!” A week ago, I was picking raspberries in our yard when I saw an army caterpillar with a red head, four white, toothbrush-bristle patches on its back, two long antennae and a “tail” that made it look like a three-antennaed monster. I remembered the radio journalist dad, so I texted my bug guy, Jim Sargent, retired entomologist – because, you know, every savvy mom has her own entomologist in her back pocket – and he informed us that it was a white-marked tussock moth caterpillar and that it was “best to wear gloves if you intend to pick one up,” which I found to be a very similar response to the radio dad’s bug guy’s response: “Dude! That’s not an army caterpillar. That’s a white-marked tussock moth caterpillar! I hope you didn’t touch it!” No worries, folks, we’ve visited the ScienceMuseum of Minnesota enough times, read enough National Geographic and Ranger Rick, and watched enough Discovery Channel and "Naked and Afraid" to know that any creature in nature with a bright red head (did I forget to mention the bright red spots dotting the little fella’s back?) is probably not safe to handle. “Is it poisonous?” the kids inquired? I’m not tasting it to find out.

Jim also encouraged us to find "more interesting information on the internet such as the plain brown moth adult compared to the weird colorful, fun youngster. Insects are interesting and amazing!"

Do not touch.

Copyright © 2005 tom murray

And lastly, if you’ve had a run of bad luck in the watermelon department, I found the perfect summer drink that will salvage said watermelon and, I promise, the whole family will love. It’s actually a lifehack on watermelon sorbet, but, hey, let it melt and you’ve got yourself a nice, refreshing slushy. All you have to do is cut up that disappointing watermelon into chunks and freeze them. After they are frozen, place them in a food processor (NOT a blender), add some lime juice per your preference and process. You can even throw in a few raspberries if you want (just beware of white-marked tussock moth caterpillars) or any kind of berry for that matter. If you’re trying to cut out sugar, then you’re done. But if you want to throw in a little sweetener, I’m not going to hold it against you. 

Anywho, the food processor transforms the whole concoction into a really nice sorbet texture. We like to serve it in our tulip ice cream dishes. The Second Grader likes to scrape out the lime rind to make a little lime cup and eat it out of that. (See what no TV does?!) Sometimes we turn it into popsicles. Add some gin or vodka, and you’ve got yourself a nice little grown-up beverage.

It’s still summer! Make the most of it!

Recipe and photo credit here. 

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

1981 - Music Television is launched
The channel, popularly known as MTV was mostly known for showing music videos and for being hosted by Video Jockeys.

1980 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir takes office in Iceland
The Icelandic politician was the fourth president of Iceland and the world's first democratically elected female head of state. Her 16 years of Presidency also makes her the longest serving female head of state in the world.

1951 - Japan Airlines (JAL) is founded
The flagship airlines of Japan, JAL started operating on October 25, 1951

1936 - The XI Summer Olympics are opened in Berlin by Adolf Hitler
Initially, Jews and people of African descent were to be barred from the games, however, a boycott was threatened by several countries and the German organizers relented. 18 African-American athletes, including James "Jesse" Owens and Matthew "Mack" Robinson, placed well in the track and field events, winning several medals.

1834 - Slavery abolished in British Empire
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 came into force a year after it was passed by the British Parliament. The act was repealed in 1998.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1942 - Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1932 - Meena Kumari, Indian actress

1930 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist

1929 - Hafizullah Amin, Afghan politician

1819 - Herman Melville, American writer

Remembering You

2009 - Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines

1970 - Frances Farmer, American actress

1944 - Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino politician, 2nd President of the Philippines

1920 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer, social reformer

1714 - Anne, Queen of Great Britain

Love your family, friends, and community and make it a great Saturday.

Kim

P.S. This guy gets a shout out in my current WIP.