Wannaskan Almanac

See You Later, Alligator! After A While, Crocodile! Gotta Go, Buffalo! See You Soon, Raccoon! Take Care, Polar Bear! In A Shake, Garter Snake! Hit The Road, Toad! Can’t Stay, Blue Jay! Bye-Bye, Butterfly! Toodle-Loo, Kangaroo! Time To Scoot, Little Newt! ‘Til Then, Penguin! Adios, Hippos! Hasta Manana, Iguana! There's The Door, Dinosaur! On The Bus, Octopus! Catch you on the flip side, lion pride. Get on the boat, Coyote. Beep beep black sheep. All that to say that I have recently realized that most of the people...well, all of them...that I know are mortal.  It often isn't until they are gone that we realize what we would give to have one more conversation, one more time to work together on a project, one more beer, or one more minute.  It is at that moment that we finally see the folly of wasted time and opportunities.   Connecting and disconnecting people for decades! So let the departed teach a final lesson...pour yourself out each day into each others' lives.  That is

  Excuse the morbidity, but Jim and I have been shopping for cemeteries. We've got the time, and our three kids are running full throttle on the straightaway of their lives raising kids and building their careers. Deciding now where we want our cremains buried will give us peace of mind and will save them that decision later. This is no simple task and raises feelings and questions about life and death. Amid this search and accompanied by a trumpet blare, WannaskaWriter's recent Mother's Day tribute shows up in the Wannaskan Almanac. Although we've known Steve for many years through his teamwork with Chairman Joe and their publication, The Raven , we are not neighbors. His piece and accompanying photos introduced us to the decades-long project where he transformed his farm into woodlands. We found the story astonishing, and it got us thinking.  My first job as an English teacher was a part-time gig, a writing class intended to give kids time to write creatively. One ye

  When most in a hurry is the time to stop.    And look for pitfals.  Movement is the heart of conversation.   While paused in search of the name of a thing, it dies.  Auto-correct in the mind lets my errors slip by Foreseen excuses of those skipping my funeral: -Dead -Dead -Demented -In bed There’s a very thin line  ‘Tween what you’ll    be hearing- “Thank God for your help” or “Quit interfering!” A consequence of procrastination is very convenient amnesia. Do you prefer a partner who clears the air as needed, or one with a long fuse? Let us remember that fuses are notorious for fizzling out. As we ride this Middle Earth on circuits of the sun, we nightly visit Dreaming Earth. And after Circuit Number X we'll disembark on Waking Earth. Jesus said unless we become like children, we will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Once you do become like a child, you must enroll in Kingdom Kindergarten.  Jesus also said to leave self behind.  On it, Lord. Though self is devilish hard to ditc

Hello and welcome to a damp and rainy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is May 18th. Third Grader: Last weekend my oldest sister graduated from college. I felt very happy for her because she graduated twice - once from high school and now from college. She didn't really have a graduation party. (Mom: But we did get together with her roommate's family and hung out in a gorgeous AirBnB on Lake Quinsigamond.) We went for ice cream. I got cookie dough. My mom got coffee Oreo. I like graduation parties because I might spot my friends there and they (the parties, not my friends) have a lot of food. It's also genuinely really fun because there are a lot of people there and a lot of people I know. There are also fun activities there, for example, cornhole. One time I saw a zipline. And sometimes there's a fire for roasting marshmallows. And simply playing tag with people. Sixth Grader: I think graduation parties are very good soda collectors. I like to get one soda

    I saw an article recently titled "Is it OK to Throw a Book Away." The subtitle hinted yes. The article detailed the author's struggle to downsize her personal library. She used to give her unwanted books to the sale at the public library until she learned all the unsold books from the sale went to the dump. The same thing happens at Goodwill. They call it "refreshing the stock".   The woman who wrote the article never does find a good solution. If she does throw books away she doesn't admit it.  I recently threw away a guidebook to the Burgundy region of France. It was published in the 1990s. I once wanted to go to Burgandy, but I don't anymore. I set the book face up in a trash can at the grocery store. Perhaps some young student will find it. It could be life changing. No guilt was felt on my part.   In the article the woman suggested putting books in one those little free libraries you see around neighborhoods. I've done that. Someone must be

   White spruce trees planted in 1974 we wake up to every morning.    Fifty years ago this month, with the help of a friend, I started hand-planting trees in a fifteen acre poplar woods in Roseau County bordered on the west by Mikinaak Creek (the Ojibwe spelling for snapping turtle and not what is written in English on the maps), and a neighbor’s fenced quarter section on its east, where just the summer before, the farmer had bulldozed all the trees and windrowed their debris like a hay field prior to baling.     I was thunderstruck by their destruction, for that dense woodland lent the creek bottom and my quaint homestead the beauty and privacy I desired, having lived in a city all my life to that point. Its horrific loss underscored to me that I could do nothing about what my neighbors did on their land, and if I wanted such an environment, I would have to plant it myself.    And so I have with the help of family and friends, as planting trees became the best decision I have ever mad

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for May 15, 2024, the twentieth Wednesday of the year, the ninth Wednesday of spring, the third Wednesday of May, and the one-hundred-thirty-sixth day of the year, with two-hundred thirty days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for May 15, 2024 Morels, Truly First typified in 1794, Morchella esculenta , was officially adopted as the Minnesota State mushroom in 1984, pursuant to Minnesota Statute §1.149 : Laws of Minnesota 1984 CHAPTER 394-S.F.No. 868 An act relating to natural resources; designating the morel as the official state mushroom; proposing new law coded in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: Section 1.  [1.149] [STATE MUSHROOM.] Subdivision 1.  [DESIGNATION.] Morchella esculenta , commonly known as the morel, sponge mushroom, or honeycomb morel, is adopted as the official state mushroom of the state of Minnesota. Subd. 2.  [PHOTOGRAPH.] A photograph of the morel,