Wannaskan Almanac

St. Patrick’s Day Isn’t the Only Irish Holiday . Who doesn’t hate to love Halloween? Who doesn’t tingle at the sight of creatures and graveyards?  With that brief greeting, I send you on your broomstick or haunted carriage to enjoy (or not) the holiday we hate to love. But before we look at the poems, let’s have some orange-and-black holiday chuckles – in this case, black and red. Oh, as far as Halloween being another Irish holiday . . .  see: “Background” following the poem selection. Here is the funny stuff . . . The jokes below are all about vampires, one of the all-time favorites on this spooky night. See more here . Thought you knew it all about vamps? ‘er vampires? Why did the vampire read the newspaper? He heard it had great circulation. How do vampires get around on Halloween? On blood vessels. What’s it like to be kissed by a vampire? It’s a pain in the neck. What’s it called when a vampire has trouble with his house? A grave problem. How can you tell when a vampire h...

  There’s all kinds of courage: from the facing down of the lion, to burrowing under the lake bottom till the spring rains return.  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Let others pass me on the way to the mountaintop. That’s fine. I fear only being overtaken by night.  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Gigantic restaurant portions lead either to obesity or to additional waste when we throw away the leftovers in the take-home containers.  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> All American history leads up to the Civil War. We continue to this day  to clear out the snipers and the dead enders.   <><>...

Hello and welcome to a pre-Hallow's Eve Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is October 29th. Today, I'm in Baxter, MN, where I’m visiting family. Three amazing things have happened already and I haven't even had my Saturday adventures yet. First, I had dinner at Sakura , which has been the best sushi restaurant I’ve been to yet. Granted, I haven’t been to a lot of sushi restaurants…but, the food experience is absolutely yum yum. We had the Bagel Roll, the tempura fried Yummy Yummy Roll, and the Thai Spicy Roll. Second, after dinner, I had a flight of ciders at Woodlore Cider. This was the first cidery I’ve been to, but my brewing hubby also dabbles in cider so was excited to try professional craft ciders. I was impressed. Hopped had pleasing notes of hops that worked well with the cider. Cranberry had the distinctive cranberry taste but wasn’t too tart, Original was crisp (and best of all not too sweet), and Pineapple was the perfect sweet finish. All of th...

    We arrived home from our six week, 8,800 mile odyssey on Saturday evening. I should be happy to be home, but what we saw on arrival was a carpet of leaves around the house to be raked, a carpet of flies inside to be vacuumed, wood to be split and stacked, mail to be gone through, and there's no mozzarella in the fridge to make pizza! Waaaaa! I was ready to turn around and hit the road. The nomadic life suits me well.   But we must abide at home awhile and I must wrap up this travelogue. Thank you in advance for reading. We had originally planned to visit Key West after our week doing child care in Massachusetts, but Hurricane Ian gave us second thoughts. We decided to stay in Mass. another week before heading home.    The weather was salubrious. We took long hikes, watched the annual rowboat races, and climbed a mountain. I had heard for years of my brother Mark's October ascents of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire and envied him. I love mountains.   ...

     Twenty-eight years ago, what eventually evolved to become The Raven: Northwest Minnesota's Original Art, History & Humor Journal, was published lock, stock, and barrel from a rural farm home in Roseau County's Palmville Township. It involved a lot of work. It was a real education.     This is the October issue of 1994, Volume 1 Issue 9, published when we were known as "Palmville Press/MRWP." MRWP was an acronym for McDonnell-Reynolds Wood Products (Ltd.), definitely a story for another day. Joe would be more than happy to enlighten any of you about it, just ask him, but in the meantime I'll continue my story to save us (especially me) all time.     Herein, is 'the raven' of 1994.      

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for October 26, 2022, the forty-third Wednesday of the year, the fifth Wednesday of fall, and the 299th day of the year, with 66 days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for October 26, 2022 Muskrat Houses are Ready Building homes from the same plants they eat, muskrats have finished their homes for the coming winter, but these homes seldom last for more than one winter season. Muskrats are almost perfectly suited for their watery Wannaskan way of life. Muskrats grow two layers of fur: long, heavy guard hairs provide the animal’s reddish-brown coloring and protect a thick, soft inner layer of hairs. Their soft underfur traps tiny air bubbles that help the muskrat to float, and underfur also keeps the muskrat’s skin dry and warm. Since there is currently no collective noun for muskrat, please submit your ideas. October 26 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling October 26 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch : Updated daily by ...

I have had the pleasure of being the voice of the Coyotes for the past ten years.  Another way of saying that is that I am the announcer for a middle school sports program.  Our cross town rival is the Cardinals.  These two schools clash each year in football for the ultimate prize...a helmet that says Cardinals on one side and Coyotes on the other.   Red and blue duking it out The Coyotes colors are blue.  The Cardinals wear red.  I am not really sure what shades of blue or red they are.  A couple of weeks ago these two teams met again in their season finales.  The Coyotes came in with a record of 5-1 while the Cardinals came in with a 4-2 mark.  Neither team was in the position to win the league championship, but there was still that helmet to play for.   The teams have played against each other for ten years now.  While I can brag that Comanche has won more "helmet" games, the winner this year was the Cardinals.  A...

Stories of Humanity’s Adventures Sing me a song of days gone by. Tell me a story around the fire. Better yet, give me both. So, to answer both these requests, today we present the ballad genre, the first of many posts with a twist. Okay. We have spent a few months now with glorious poets of the female gender, and we won’t forget about keeping the gender balance in coming posts. Starting with today’s post, we will enter a quite different poetic tradition: the Ballad. For today, that is. Going forward, poems according to theme and/or type will appear in these “pages” for some time to come. So, here we go with our first foray into the expansive world poets inhabit. Prepare yourself for some of these ballads as the form can be quite lengthy. I do recommend “ Twa Corbies ” for a challenge. The term “ballad” comes from medieval times, although an argument can be made that they appeared earlier. As narrative song, Scandinavian and Germanic, play into the ballads’ origins.  The earliest ap...