Wannaskan Almanac

Respondent's Testimonial  Page 12  An Excerpt   5.) Tell us the history of your dating experiences and any serious romances. 6.) What was your attitude toward and any experiences of sex and sexuality.        Girls were both interesting and confusing to me from an early age. They were sort of wondrous-- and strange--at the same time. My mother said girls chased, kicked and scratched me on the playground ‘because they liked me,’ and I started to wonder that if it wouldn’t be more healthy for me if ‘they didn't like me.’ I didn’t know how much of this ‘liking’ I could take and still have hands, arms, and shin bones left by the time I reached puberty. This behavior wasn’t like the romances I saw on those late afternoon movies on TV, but then again those people were adults. Everybody had to start somewhere; I guessed this was it.    To ‘like a girl’ got a boy teased unmercifully--even when he had no idea what ‘liking a girl’ meant in the broadest sense. Liking a girl, to me, just me

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for February 28, 2024, the ninth Wednesday of the year, the tenth Wednesday of winter, and the fifty-ninth day of the year, with three-hundred seven days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for February 28, 2024 Were DreamWorks Pictures ever to release a Wannaska version of Madagascar , the feature film would replace the lemur with Procyon lotor , the common raccoon, and also featuring the voice of Sven as the raccoon king, Hjalmar. Depending on the weather, Wannaskan raccoon mating activities usually peak in March each year, but the roads are already demonstrating evidence of increased raccoon buffoonery as February comes to a snowy end. Known by North American indigenous peoples as a trickster of tricksters, the raccoon is a favorite character in myth, literature, and entertainment media. February 28 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special : Potato Dumpling February 28 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch : Updated daily by 11:00am, usuall

My wife and I were sitting out in our spa the other night.  We were watching for shooting stars and shooting the breeze when the conversation took a sinister twist.  We began to discuss one of the most traumatic memories I had as a child...my terrible fear of appearing in public with ring around the collar.   It was one of my biggest fears...even though I didn't wear shirts with collars.  As a child I was terrified that I was going to show up somewhere and people would start chanting "ring around the collar" at me.  How embarrassing would that have been! My mom was wonderful, but we never had Wisk in the house.  That knowledge kept me up at night, worrying about the condition of my shirts.  Thank God ring around the collar was stamped out...at least I never hear about it anymore.  Perhaps it is still out there! I must change gears and tell you about my wife's biggest fear.  She was tortured with Bounce commercials which gave her a fear of static cling.  This condition

My mother loved books, and stacks of them crowded our kitchen table. Years before book clubs became fashionable, she and her friends gathered over coffee to discuss favorites. Since there were no preschools in those days, the joy from their infectious conversations became a fortuitous curriculum. Picture a skinny little preschool me lingering at the table's edge; fingers crossed that no one would point me to the door to play outside. On some level, I coveted the attention my mother conferred upon her beloved books; more than anything, her passion only fueled my curiosity and desire to be able to read.  Some tattered Golden books kicked around the house, but, in truth, I don't recall being read to.  My early memories focus more on my mother's knack for storytelling, a topic I touched on in December. As a child, she had enjoyed elocution lessons, so not surprisingly, she encouraged us to memorize a poetic night prayer addressed to Mary, Jesus' mother, a favorite that mo

  Said placenta to fetus we're leaving old pard Me to the ash heap, you to the yard  And though it feels like it, you're not going to die  Once we have split, have yourself a good cry AI is the Bitcoin of the Arts. That extra precaution feels like being too nice But when IT hits the fan you’ll be glad you flushed twice  We gladly fly into our lover's soft paws But on spreading our wings - note retractable claws  Waning and waxing are very close friends  One slowly eats what the other one lends The larder sits empty three nights for amends Then waxing starts over, world without end If you're going to take risks Have a net down below Or at least a thick carpet  To soften the blow  We seniors have tricks to make our lives bright Aids for poor hearing - cheaters for sight Our devices are fixed by our grandkids, dear mites While to open the chips bag we use dynamite  Love is the place where it's safe to be annoying.  And the best place to become less so. We oldsters comp

Hello and welcome to a sad second-anniversary-of-Russia's-invasion-of-Ukraine Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is February 24th. Two years ago, I blogged about my Ukrainian friend's exodus. Here's what she posted on Facebook today:  "Feb 24, 2022. I hid the children in the bathroom of Lviv apartment as the first rockets were hitting Ukraine. Predicting a war, I evacuated the family from a Kyiv suburb near Bucha to Lviv 2 weeks before the start of the war. An extra layer of protection during rocket attacks - I made children wear horse riding helmets, as though they would help. At that time, colleagues from Kyiv work started arriving to Lviv, looking for safety. All hotels were full, they had nowhere to go, so I hid them in the basement of our Lviv home. So many feelings, thoughts and deeds became our family’s new reality since then. I wish for the war to end and I wish no one to experience a war in his or her life. I thank everyone who has been helping our

     I have mastered the art of procrastination. It's all in knowing the difference between things that must be done right now, such as moving out of the way of an oncoming semi, and things that can wait ten, twenty or even thirty years, such as oiling a squeaky hinge. The first example is a matter of life and death. The second falls under aesthetics.   It helped a lot to learn that each one of us is his or her own little parliament, rather than an absolute ruler. One voice proposes doing a job right now. "Here, here, git 'er done," say seconding voices. A committee meets on ways and means and the issue is tabled until the next meeting. This insight relieved me of a lot of guilt. Now I can blame those idiots on Capitol Hill every time the door squeaks.   But as the years roll by I start to worry about my legacy. I make a to-do list. When the list goes missing I resolutely make another. Job one: oil squeaky hinge. It proves to be a bigger job than I thought. I refer to

Forty Miles From Home   2022 Warroad Motors & Mitch's Family Kitchen

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for February 21, 2024, the eighth Wednesday of the year, the ninth Wednesday of winter, and the fifty-second day of the year, with three-hundred fourteen days remaining, brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio in downtown Roseau, featuring the Frost&Flannel  Celebration , February 24 and 25, with in-store specials, coffee, and treats.   Wannaska Phenology Update for February 21, 2024 Chipmunks Thanks to the mild winter, Neotamias minimus are starting to venture out from their burrow larders where they spend most of the winter. The common name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk", from the native Odawa (Ottawa) word jidmoonh, meaning "red squirrel". More locally, the Ojibwe word is ajidamoo. The earliest form cited by the Oxford English Dictionary in 1842 has a religious connotation: "chipmonk". Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck" depending on how many beers