Wannaskan Almanac

When I was in grade school, I raised a flock of mallards, drakes, hens, and their ducklings. I had over thirty at once. If you read my poem, “ Ghost Flyers ,” you know that I grew up on an airport. A regional airline called North Central (later to reincarnate as Northwest Airlines) made a stop of two at that local airport where I grew up. Well, my ducks loved the little ponds tucked around and in between the runways. Typically, they flew over to the ponds and had their way. (No I didn’t clip their wings, and if you wonder why they stayed around, it’s simple: Free food and lots of it. Why fly away?) But as usual, I digress – as if this whole narrative isn’t a digression from this week’s poem. So, back to North Central. Now and then, the mallards chose to walk between the small ponds. Usually, there was no incident; however, on one particular day, a proud mama duck and half a dozen ducklings walked across the runway just as North Central’s DC-3 was taxiing in to drop off and pick up p...

Our career ascends like a rocket, then begins its descent. With luck and some fancy gliding, we can forestall the inevitable crash. An afternoon nap: the poor man's marijuana. The hermit lives alone in order to deal with the most difficult person in the world: himself. If Hitler had blown up Paris, a nightmare version of the Marshall Plan would have had Walt Disney rebuild it. Yay! Our team's world champs! But the glow fades quickly and next season they'll be breaking our hearts again. Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden light. All he asks is that we love our neighbor. But he doesn't know the nut jobs I deal with. If all the adults around her crawled, how long would it take a baby to discover that walking was superior? The Mexican War was a shameless land grab to extend slavery. We eventually did the right thing and abolished slavery, but forgot to rectify the land grab. The senior bladder like an old wineskin Won't hold too much of the new yur-in...

Good morning and welcome to Saturday, June 16th! When my husband and I were first married, some friends of ours who had four sons gave us the craziest advice. "Let the kids stay up late!" We promptly ignored this advice as we went on to have one, two, then three toddlers all in a bustling brood. We looked forward to a 7:30 p.m. bedtime so that we could finally have time for each other and ourselves. Fast forward six years. The toddlers were all elementary school-aged; we had another baby and then - surprise! - one more. Babies roll with bedtime no problem. Bedtime slowly creeped up to 8:00 p.m...8:30...9 p.m....9:30 p.m. While we knew the toddler bedtime rule, we had a new problem. Teenagers. I don't know how other families do it, but we found it really difficult to get the little ones to bed before the big ones. Then we remembered our friends' advice: Let the kids stay up late. And sixteen years later, we finally see the wisdom, which simply is: more family ti...

    Welcome to the Wannaskan Almanac for Friday.     As I watched the royal wedding last month, I was impressed by Prince Harry's elaborate uniform. Harry and his brother William had both served in the British Army, Harry having been deployed to Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot. He said shooting insurgents was like playing video games. There's the warrior spirit!     This reminded me how through the ages, the aristocrats have gotten, kept, or lost their patrimony with the sword. But Harry and William's experiences were nothing like those of the Black Prince who was born today in 1330.  His real name was Edward Plantagenet, son of King Edward III of England. He grew up during the Hundred Years War and took part in his first battle at the age of 15 at Crecy in France.    The war was all about who was going to rule France, the king of England or the king of France. As you remember, England had been conquered by the Normans back in 1066. ...

As we all know, Wikipedia defines Thor as “... a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character ...” The rest of us remember him as a Norse god who threw hammers of lightning and thunder. As I write this on Monday, June 11, it’s forecasted to do just that all this week up to Thor’s Day, so we’ll see if that myth rings true. Stay tuned. In late August of 2015, blogger Chairman Joe and I went sailing for a short jaunt of 150 miles, across the Gulf of Maine, with our friends Jerry & Marion (Hagen) Solom on their home-built, thirty-nine foot, steel sailboat Indian Summer , from Stonington, Maine to Hull, Massachusetts, just to say we did, as it's sort of like a badge of courage for otherwise long winter evenings, here in true-north Minnesota, when the talk has otherwise turned to hockey and fishing. We'll never tire of talking about it.  Of course, all Minnesota readers are well aware that the Soloms are northwest Minnesota’s legendary quintessential sa...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, June 13, 2018, brought to you by the Roseau Postal Service: Rain or shine, sleet or snow, our postal carriers go, go, go! Your privacy is also our concern; what happens on the route, stays on the route. June 13 is the 164 day of the year, with 201 days remaining until the end of the year, and 293 days remaining until April Fools Day. Earth/Moon Almanac for June 13, 2018 Sunrise: 5:20am; Sunset: 9:28pm Moonrise: 5:30am; Moonset: 9:18pm, waning crescent Temperature Almanac for June 13, 2018            Average    Record   Today High       72            92          79 Low        49            32       ...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a bird in a plane? Nope, it is just the Wannaskan Almanac...your source for meaningless trivia and mind-boggling vocabulary. Today is June 12, 2018. I know that because I checked the calendar a few minutes ago. You can also find out the date by asking Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or any other number of digital assistants...unless you live off the wifi or data grid. If that is the case then just use a calendar. Some people like the whole paper and pencil thing. Me, I put everything on computer. It seems like I can't remember anything unless a little ping from my iPad or iPhone reminds me about it. Without the iPhone and iPad iForget. Your unusual word of the day is quark. Is it... A) the sound a baritone duck makes B) soft cheese made from skim milk C) old English version of the word quart D) a word made up to confuse Wannaskan Almanac readers On this day in history: 1931 Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition and...