Wannaskan Almanac

Firebreaks are just my attempt to do something against wild fire, rather do nothing.      I burned off a Blue Grama Native Grass plantation to renew its growth and to kill the volunteer alder brush spreading through it. The evident snow line on the left is a 800-yard long firebreak protecting several thousand trees of many different varieties planted in the last 14 years; on the far right is a township roadbed that acts as a firebreak as well. I carry a couple backpack fire pumps and buckets with me on my ATV to put out spot fires or insure fires are out along the line. Here I have started to burn creek banks nearest the house. (The snowplow is unnecessary; just hadn't removed it.)      After last year's many Red Flag warnings, I keep an eye out for the weak links in our own chain of firebreaks I've made. For the last couple years, I've renewed our firebreaks, for stalling the progression of an unexpected grassland wildfire.    ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for April 22, 2026, the sixteenth Wednesday of the year, the fifth Wednesday of spring, the fourth Wednesday of April, and the one-hundred-twelfth day of the year, with two-hundred fifty-three days remaining. Wannaska Phenology Update for April 22, 2026 River Otters — Out and About Lontra canadensis , Minnesota's largest aquatic carnivore can be seen now at Hayes Lake. Nigig, in Anishinaabe, can swim and maneuver better than many fish, and swims with only the top of its head out of the water. Adults are about four to five and one-half feet long, including the 18-inch tail. Nigig prey includes a variety of small aquatic organisms such as fish, clams, muskrats, and turtles. They can also catch terrestrial mammals such as chipmunks, mice, and young rabbits. Members of the family Mustelidae , otters have a long period of "delayed implantation". Shortly after adult females have a litter of one to five young, they are bred ...

The Day We All Woke Up and Said, “Wait… We Pay Who How Much?” Historians will someday mark it as a turning point in human civilization: the morning when the world collectively rubbed its eyes, stretched, checked its bank apps, and suddenly realized that the people we’d been paying the most money to—actors, athletes, and musicians—were not, in fact, the ones keeping society from collapsing into a feral, post‑apocalyptic wasteland. It was a shocking revelation, especially for those who had spent decades believing that a man who pretends to be a superhero on screen was somehow more essential than the person who grows the food that keeps us alive. The shift began innocently enough. A famous quarterback signed a contract worth more than the GDP of a small island nation, and someone—no one knows who—muttered, “Huh… but he doesn’t actually feed anyone.” The comment spread like wildfire. Within hours, millions were asking themselves why a person who can throw a ball really far was earning more...

Life hacks. I recall first hearing the term in the early aughts and wincing. A wordophile, I thought the harsh, dry-cutting sound of the word seemed so violent. Should I look away? Or what, are we talking about coughing?  I've since learned that, of the 8.5 billion Google searches made each day, more than half involve some version of how-to or a life tip.  I'm not much on social media, but I don't live under a rock. Before long, I caught on that the hack was just a hip way to talk about making life easier or more efficient. Always one for innovation, yay, I said to myself, it sounds like a party. I love to cook, so today I'll feature food hacks for two of my favorite carbs: oatmeal and pasta. Oatmeal is a time-honored breakfast staple. For years, it's helped me maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Plus, I like it. These could be significant factors that outweigh oatmeal's dirty-pan drudgery: the long wait involved in cooking and the gummy pan to clean. For me, ...

  The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 12 Man Repairs Goggles Joe McDonnell, 79 and residing in Palmville Twp, Minnesota, recently reglued the foam on his ski goggles. "I don't ski," McDonnell tells the press. "We get our exercise by walking on the road. The prevailing wind is from the northwest and if it's a cold day my eyes start to water which I don't like. I always bring my ski goggles along, but they're old and the foam liner has been coming loose from the google body. The foam slips down which allows the wind to get at my eyes. I didn't know if Gorilla Glue™️ was the right glue to use. I know some glues can dissolve foam, but it seems to have done the job." McDonnell has put his googles away now till next winter. "I have trouble coming up with things for people to get me for Christmas. Maybe this year I'll ask for ski googles, and I'll put the pair I fixed into the winter emergency kit in my car trunk." Man Gives Car Review...

Hello and welcome to a crafty Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac by way of the Dragonfly Retreat in Bangor, Wisconsin. Today is April 18th.  This is my second craft retreat at this location. Last year, I blogged about the Craft Retreat experience. This year, I'd like to share a study of textiles as art. The Dragon Retreat proprietor, Gerlyn Basic , has elevated technique and imagination to create art pieces that transcend. Instead of waxing poetic - or using AI to pontificate (see last week's post for context) - I'll let the pieces speak for themselves. The house is spacious and fabulous. The people I'm with radiate copious amounts of joie de vivre . And I am so very happy.

     The ashes of Teresa's Uncle Vern were being interred in a military cemetery just south of San Francisco on April 10. He had died at his home in Mesa, AZ the previous April and we planned to join the family at the interment. We had grown close to Vern and his daughter Kelly during several visits to their home in the past few years. After the interment ceremony we planned to spend three days up in San Francisco doing some hiking on the trails around the city.    That was the plan anyway. We had reservations for two nights at a hotel near the airport where Vern's family would be staying. A few days before the interment ceremony as we were looking for a hotel in San Francisco's tourist district we got a call from our son Joe. Joe works as first mate on a tug and barge, two weeks on the boat and two weeks at home. When he's home he has his two kids and when he goes back to work, their mother has them.    He had called to say the company wanted him to w...