Wannaskan Almanac

Hello and welcome to a pre-Christmas Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is December 21st. This weekend we're enjoying hillside views at Lutsen. We've all got new ski socks, some have new ski goggles, boots, and even new skis. It's not Whitefish, but, as I've reminded everyone, it's about being together. Happy Holidays from our family to yours! Whitefish, MT - 2023

    Some people hate driving. I love it. Any time, and where. People who hate to drive end up getting speeding tickets. I just get lost. The great thing about retirement is that we can take extra days to drive east to see the kids. Who would have thought Indiana could be so fascinating? Once you get off the Interstate you find out.    The other great thing is that you have time and funds to go to Europe where our ancestors came from. So we visited Ireland (me) and Sweden and Scotland (Teresa) and checked them off the list. Next we did France so I could learn that my years of studying the French language had been a waste of time. Next was England. The language barrier was much lower there. There was nothing about England I didn't like. Then to Spain so we could fulfill Teresa's dream of walking the 500 mile Camino de Santiago. Except we had let so many years slip by we had to content ourselves with hiking just 40 miles and spending the rest of the time in Barcelona, A...

Iclic got an idea one winter as he procrastinated starting his cold car to go to his mailbox a half mile away to get his mail. In mild weather he would walk there just to get some exercise, but during the bitterly cold months, the idea of bundling himself up and walking that tortuous stretch across the Palmville tundra made him weary even before he started. He began thinking of any easier way to get his mail short of hiring someone to deliver it. There were only two days of decent weather every year; the day just after the last snowdrift melted and the day just before all the mosquitoes hatched desperate for the taste of blood: often being the same day. Clothing-wise, he was just as bundled up in March as he was in January, except all his fleshy parts were slathered with a high concentration of Deet to stave off the gnats and no-seeums, as there just was no defense against mosquitos. A person got used to all the raised welts and rashes over time, but winter was an entirely different st...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for December 18, 2024, the fifty-first Wednesday of the year, the thirteenth Wednesday of fall, the third Wednesday of December, and the three-hundred fifty-third day of the year, with thirteen days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for December 18, 2024 Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis sports winter plumage with shades of white, brown and black against dull golden brown grasses makes them difficult to spot until it snows. For bird-word fans, their call is a distinctive rippling whistle, per,r,r,rit , and the song is a brief but loud warble hudidi feet feet feew hudidi . The snow bunting is an Arctic bird that signals the end of the southern songbird migration for another year, but these birds winter in our Temperate Zone. While we will still have northern raptors which will migrate into and through northern Minnesota, snow buntings represent the song bird end of the year. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded...

I have watched a lot of liberal media meltdowns over the last couple of weeks.  I have seen people crying and screaming and threatening to move to Canada or Denmark or Australia.  But I have a few words for you if you are dwelling in a dark place in your mind...it will be okay!  When it comes to politics things are never as bad as you think they are.  I remember when Obama got elected.  I was shocked.  I figured that the world was going to fall apart.  Sure, there were some rather unsavory things that happened, but I survived.  The Obama and Biden years are like lutefisk to me.  Stinks a lot but you can stomach it.   I survived those years of Biden and Obama, and if you are a democrat you will survive the next several years as well.  We have a great country here called America.  It shifts from left to right quite regularly and each sway brings up a contemplation of what we value.  Those values can change and change ba...

  GRWM. If you know what those letters mean, you may have watched at least one of this category's 70 billion TikTok videos. My goddaughter clued me in a few years back, and I chuckle when I think about the push out there on Social Media to post footage of putting on makeup and getting ready to go out - hence the invite to watch and g et r eady w ith m e . As a dyed-in-the-wool Boomer, I'm not a big makeup fan. My generation of women went the au natural route, and I've stuck to that religion. But, regardless of your makeup routines, like many of us this week, you are busy doing nothing but running errands, baking, wrapping, or feeling stressed that you are not. Today's topic covers another getting ready - preparing for the holidays. Although I'm still in the throes of it, that process began the week before Thanksgiving when I dug in and cleaned our house because my son and his family were coming for the weekend.  At first glance, no one walking into my house would th...

  When it drops to minus zero And all the snowbirds leave You must slip into your long johns Change your blood to anti-freeze People can’t take too much info Give them few details—three at the most Let the three add up to the main point E.g. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost  Prudery is scorned, but it’s saved us from having to look at a lot of unsavory butts.  When I see someone typing furiously on their phone I wonder what hash autocorrect is making of their message.  Consciousness is a mirror  Showing a face upon which we fawn The eccentric tilts the mirror  And sees mirrors that go forever on As we slowly munch On old age’s crust We forget youth’s foods Which now disgust You can be an opportunist You can be a careful planner Sometimes into your favorite plans Fate will throw a spanner With my pants on I can boldly go anywhere in the world.  With my pants off, I must look both ways before slinking to the guest bathroom. 

Hello and welcome to a warm-hearted Saturday here at the Hruba/Hruby household at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is  December 14th. Just a short note today because our day is filled with house prep for the holidays. (I've got a linen closet project I'm determined to finish!) The Fourth Grader's Sick Days  turned into a sick week until Thursday night when College Kid 3.0 came home and announced, "You're not sick!" The Fourth Grader agreed and *kapoof* has been good and fever-free ever since. Win! With our golden-retriever college kid home, it feels like our home is slowly coming back together. We are giddy with glee for College Kid 1.0 to come home tomorrow. The Great Return has commenced and runs through the rest of next week. By next Thursday night, everyone will all be back home and we will set off for our next family adventure on Friday. I've been bursting with pitch-and-purge energy while the hubs has been away. We've been steeped in a prayerful, spi...

      As we sped along the freeway between Florence And Rome, Sabra, our tour director, pointed out the hill town of Orvieto looming five hundred feel above the plains of Umbria. "Look," she said. "You can see the walls of the old fort. You should go there. It's only an hour by train from Rome. It's wonderful."     Right. Only an hour. No, I'll just stay in little old Rome. Have a cappuccino. Go to bed early. But it was too late. Teresa had been bitten by the Orvieto bug. I hoped she'd forget about it. But she never forgets these little jaunts into the wild.     So, after we had seen the Colosseum and the Vatican, and while the other tour group people were sensibly descending into the catacombs of Rome, we were entering the gigantic Termini train station near our hotel.     It was a mild sunny Saturday morning. In the busy station were rows of ticket machines. We selected English. But something was being lost in translation. The train we want...