Wannaskan Almanac

  Volume 1 Issue 5 Man Apologizes to Fictional Character Mr. Henry Woodhouse is a fictional character in the novel  Emma  by Jane Austen. Joe McDonnell, 77 and a resident of Palmville TWP, Minnesota, tell the press that he's always been annoyed by Mr. Woodhouse. "Austen calls him a valetudinarian," says McDonnell. "A valetudinarian is a person who worries constantly about his health even when he's doing fine. Hypochondriac is the modern term. This Mr. Woodhouse is constantly worried he's going to get a chill and die. He hates leaving home, hates seeing others eat cake because he doesn’t eat sweets, and when offering wine, pours out a thimbleful. His daughter Emma, the heroine of the book, is able to manage his foibles and everyone loves Mr. Woodhouse because he’s so pleasant and because he’s liberal with his wealth. As a reader though, I would mutter "wimp" every time he appeared. "Milquetoast," I’d think or "snowflake". But no m...

Hello and welcome to a bright-blue sky Saturday here in Wannaska country. Today is March 8th -  International Women's Day and the eve of the Seventh Grader's thirteenth birthday. "Hezký svátek!" my husband greeted me this morning. "I don't have a name day," I answered. "True, but today is International Women's Day. Happy Holiday!" This short article from NBC New York Channel 4 hits the historic highlights of this holiday: In 1908, roughly 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights. This was a turbulent time in the industrialized world that saw not only a vast population growth but also the rise of radical ideologies that further accentuated women's oppression and inequality. In 1909, activist and former factory worker Theresa Malkeil proposed the Socialist Party of America hold a "National Women's Day." The following year, 1910, a group of German delegates proposed th...

     On this day in 1826, Edward Wakefield, age 30 abducted the heiress Ellen Turner, age 15, from her school in England and forced her to marry him in Scotland. He then whisked her off to France to wait for her parents to get used to him being a member of the family.   Wakefield had pulled this stunt earlier when, at age 20, he had abducted a 17 year old heiress. Both bride and mother accepted the fait accompli and the mother settled 77,000 (over eleven million dollars today) on the couple. The bride died four years later giving birth to her second child.   Wakefield wanted to get into politics and needed more money so he tried what worked before. Neither Ellen Turner nor her father were willing to settle. Ellen’s father was a sheriff as well as a wealthy mill owner. Wakefield and his brother William were arrested, tried and sentenced to three years in prison. Parliament annulled the marriage. Wakefield swore the marriage was unconsummated. Ellen married at age...

  Melancholy Point    There's an area northwest of our house where trees don’t readily take hold for some reason. I've begun wondering if something happened there that has affected that place. Before I purchased the farm in 1971, the larger field had been fenced into smaller fields for pasture and crops. Maybe the cattle congregated in a corner of the pasture here during fly season and the concentration of manure had made the soil too acidic; that's what happened to trees I planted elsewhere.      I know how the field has been used during my tenure, but I can only speculatively imagine what could’ve happened here in the past 125 years or so, given the natural lay of the land. After the fur trade era, and the European demand for beaver felt hats fell to the wayside, fur trapping continued but not as earnestly. Virgin timber became king and Minnesota's forest areas fell prey to those who took all the white pine and spruce wherever they could.    ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for March 5, 2025, the twentieth Wednesday of the year, the eleventh Wednesday of winter, the first Wednesday of March, and the sixty-fourth day of the year, with three-hundred one days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for March 5, 2025 Seasonal March According to meteorologists, spring in the Upper Midwest begins each year on March 1. Astronomers tell us that spring begins on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2025, at 4:01 AM this year). Our local meteoastroastrologist says we're in Psychological Spring. March could be the peak of the snow season, but at some point it’s also our first month of real spring — the awakening season. Botanists say that the best time to prune grape vines, apple trees, and oak trees is between now and the last day of March. Here in northern Minnesota, black bear cubs (collective noun — sleuth or sloth) are now about a month old, weigh less than three pounds each, are in dens with their still-sleepi...

 March 4, 2025 is ... 63rd day of the year. There are then 302 days left in 2025. 9th Tuesday of 2025. on the 10th week of 2025  74th day of Winter. There are 16 days left till Spring. Today we observe: Mardi Gras--Fat Tuesday Paczki Day--A celebration of Polish pastries Shrove Tuesday--Pancake Day Carnaval (Martes)--Chile and Bolivia's version of Pancake Day World Obesity Day--Observed in South Africa, United Kingdom, and Australia It seems to me that March 4 is all about celebrating carbs or condemning carbs (this will probably change as most engines are EFI anymore).  It is interesting that there is either a celebration about fat or fat inducing foods or a lamentation about obesity.  I plan to put on my sweatpants and celebrate both sides of that coin! Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, is a lively and festive celebration that takes place the day before Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar. The name "Mardi Gras" translates to ...

Originally published August 26, 2019... The three characters in this segment of Song 7 appear to be on three separate trajectories. Or are they? Intuitions, naivete, and appetite (or not) for adventure all play a significant role in the unfolding of the plot. Relationships form and dissolve. Knowledge, dare I say wisdom is shared, believed, and rejected out of hand. In short, the plot thickens, as the saying goes. As you read, stay aware of motivations and desires, greed and honest caring. You may find this segment challenging in that none of these dynamics are particularly clear at this time. But wait. The next segment will make all things clear. The fourth and final segment will be posted on 9 September. Hold on to your oars! We finish our gathering and start back “Some plants and flowers make good medicine,”             she tells me as we walk.  “Yarrow is good                         for l...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 1 Issue 4 Man Humps Luggage to Second Floor During a short trip away from home recently, Joe McDonnell, 77 and a resident of Palmville TWP, MN, had to carry his and his companion's luggage to the second floor of their lodging. McDonnell told  The Globe , "The first thing I noticed in the lobby after locating the coffee pot was a sign stating the elevator was out of service. The elevator had been getting an upgrade for the past month and would be fixed sometime the next day. There was an apology for any inconvenience. I requested a room no higher than the second floor. I usually grab one of those carts to haul all our stuff up in the elevator, so it was good this was a one night trip and we were traveling light. Now I understood why the rate was so affordable. I noticed the second floor hall carpeting looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in a month in contrast to the first floor which was as clean as we've come to expect from this chain . The...