Wannaskan Almanac

April 22, 2019 AD...I remember it like it was yesterday. Today I thought I would share some funny quotes.  Enjoy! "I intend to live forever.  So far, so good!"  Steven Wright "Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week."  Spanish Proverb "Rice is great when your hungry and you want 2000 of something."  Mitch Hedberg "I have always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific."  Lily Tomlin "If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?"  Jerry Seinfeld "I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."  Mark Twain "I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious."  Question for you...was this quote from: a.  Albert Einstein b.  Erma Bombeck c.  Donald Trump d.  Louis Pasteur e.  Walter Cronkite The answer will not appear in this post.  You will have to look it up.  Is that mean?  Why yes, thank...

Today we take a respite from the journey of “The One,” to look once more at what Buddhists call “the great matters of life and death.” The title of today’s poem harks back to the days of the Wild West; however, it is all about the wild days living on the edge, on the divide between being and not being. This poem was not the easiest to write, nor do I expect it will provide easy reading. It begins with a “nestled in” feeling, all creatures sheltered and calm. Or are they hiding? A tenderness follows as we, perhaps, identify with the beings passing through this landscape. On the other hand, within this impermanence, we continue our activities: saving memories, compiling records, scrapping and pinning up. The words “appalling fragility” appear soon enough with their contradiction; “fragility” summons up a desire to protect (or destroy?) And the word “appalling” conjures fears of destruction as well as beauty. A bit farther on, a contrast arises between delicate “globes of light,”...

No see-ums were once just some pesky old flies. Now they're all I can't find right in front of my eyes: My glasses, my car keys, my cup or my knife.  Heaven forbid I no see-um my wife. Some friendships can buffet any storm. Others can't survive a puddle jump. On occasion I'll eat anchovies right out of the can. It's like eating exclamation marks without the sentence. I'm sober in my hermit cell, There's naught else there but thinkin'. When people come a'buggin' me, That's when I take to drinkin'. With half the world on Facebook, it's no surprise it's become a mix of good and bad, just like the world. Too bad we can't subpoena God. @jmcdonnell123

Hello and welcome to an Easter weekend Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is April 20th. Lots going on at our house today. There's an Easter Egg Scramble in Warroad this morning at 10am and after that a scavenger hunt at the Marvin Home Center. At home, we'll be decorating our Easter eggs and making Czech potato salad per the recipe from babička Oluše. (Hint: No mayo.) We may even organize our own Easter egg hunt for Sunday afternoon. The Oldest is on The Band Trip, the age-old, bi-annual opportunity for the Warroad Band to travel and perform in New York City and Washington D.C. After that she'll hop another bus in Toledo, Ohio and meet up with the rest of us in Detroit for the FIRST Championship for robotics. Next week's blog post is sure to be chock-full of Detroit adventures and whatnot. Lent is wrapping up and, I have to be honest, my mind has been far less on Christ and much more on college admissions. Instead of giving up chocolate, my Lenten j...

   Good Friday Greetings from Chairman Joe    On this day in 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord took place, starting the war that would lead, eight years later, to America's independence from Britain.  Since the end of the French and Indian war in 1763, the colonists had been chafing under British interference with their daily lives. Getting the French out of North America had nearly bankrupted Britain and now Britain was trying to get the colonists to chip in for the costs of running an empire.    With the French threat gone, the colonists were feeling less need to have the mother country looking out for them. They refused to pay the new British taxes and got the goods they could not make themselves by trafficking with smugglers. The colonists considered themselves Englishmen and loyal subjects of the crown, but King George III was not a flexible man. His advisors in Parliament came and went. Some were sympathetic to the colonists, other...

                                                                 “Hold Your Fire.”                                                        Trips Down Memory Lane I called my neighbor, Wayne, to ask if he wanted to go to a gun auction with me in Thief River Falls on Saturday April 13, knowing, well, at least presuming, he would go because, hey, this man really likes guns. I like them too, primarily for the ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the 16th Wednesday of the year,  the 107th day of the year, with 258 days remaining; brought to you by Poopy Dup: The Puppy Poo Composter. Contact Jack Pine Savage for de tails. Nordhem Lunch: Hot Turkey Plate Earth/Moon Almanac for April 17, 2019 Sunrise: 6:29am; Sunset: 8:17pm; 3 minutes, 25 seconds more daylight today Moonrise: 6:07pm; Moonset: 6:08am, waxing gibbous Be glad the Earth rotates; it really makes your day. Temperature Almanac for April 17, 2019                 Average        Record         Today High            52                 78                49 Low ...