Wannaskan Almanac

   Welcome to Friday with Chairman Joe.     On this day in 1946, the Faroe Islands had their referendum vote for independence annulled by King Christian X of Denmark. The vote held six days previously had been very close, and there had also been a large number of abstentions. The king thought the Islanders maybe didn't know their own mind so the Danish parliament granted them home rule without complete independence.    For such a small country, Denmark used to control quite a large swath of land. Up until 1814, Denmark controlled Norway which included the Faroes. Norway went to Sweden in 1814, but Denmark retained the Faroes along with Greenland and Iceland. Iceland gained its independence in 1918.    After WWII, the people of the Faroes had their shot. After annulling the referendum, the Danes gave the islands lots of independence in their affairs as well as a healthy annual subsidy. There is still an independence movement and it probably ...

  I’ve been driving tractor for the neighbor who lives south of me. Our families are old friends, dating back to 1897, just after Roseau County became a Minnesota county in 1895; this, after its split from Kittson County, which was established in 1878.   The neighbor is eight years younger than I am; I knew his parents and his grandparents. It was his great-grandparents who homesteaded here in 1897, as it was my great grandparents who homesteaded here in 1895 and for whom Palmville township is named.  Coincidentally, the neighbor's brother-in-law's great grandmother homesteaded land in Palmville too. Here is an image of her family's steam engine set up to cut firewood.    The neighbor had been told many stories about our township, some of which I am familiar too, and so it was he told me of a road or trail that ran along the field edge above Mikinaak Creek where we were standing, indicating where there had been little bridges across coolies or be...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, September 18, 2019, the 38th Wednesday of the year,  the 261st day of the year, with 104 days remaining. Nordhem Lunch: Chicken Strip Basket w/White Gravy Earth/Moon Almanac for September 18, 2019 Sunrise: 7:04am; Sunset: 7:32pm; 3 minutes, 33 seconds less daylight today Moonrise: 9:44pm; Moonset: 11:27am, waning gibbous Temperature Almanac for September 18, 2019                 Average           Record           Today High             65                   89                  75 Low          ...

September 17.  Ah, what a beautiful day.  It is the 260th day of 2019.  The .260 cartridge was introduced by Remington in 1997. September 17.  Raise a glass of bubbly to celebrate this wondrous occasion.  There are 105 days left in 2019.  KKCB 105.1 FM is the most northern radio station with the frequency of 105.  It is located in Duluth and it plays country music.  There are no radio stations based out of Wannaska. September 17.  It doesn't get any better than this!  Today we are in the 38th week of the year.  .38 Special is both a gun and a band.  The band made it to number six on the charts with their song " Second Chance ".  The gun has never recorded a song.  It is however a popular police gun. September 17.  It ain't really summer.  It ain't really fall.  It ain't really nothing at all.  Okay, that was lame.  It is however the 88th day of summer.  That is what my almanac says....

I’m predicting that you will like the poetry presented in this post, because Dylan Thomas, unlike yours truly puts up a good ol’ fight against death. See, for example, his first two selected poems below, the first being, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” The title of the second selected poem, “And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” speaks for itself in the same tone. One can almost see him shaking both fists at the grim reaper. In contrast, as anyone who has read my work as all can see, I accept our inevitable ending (and the impermanence of everything), and try to create poetry that tells it just as it is, warts and all, as it’s said. That mostly makes folks uncomfortable, and if there’s one thing humans (in general) like, it’s comfort. But enough about my viewpoint; you can read that on most Monday poetry posts. Back to Mr. Thomas. Dylan Thomas’ range of expression is remarkable. As noted above, there are the “death” poems. In “Fern Hill,” we are treated to his immense ta...

I value our friends whose homes have that lived in look. When they come here for a visit there’s no need to go nuts cleaning. The man who says he has no regrets is blind to his share of the harm all of us have done. The candidates say they’ll do this and that as president, but they’ll do nothing without majorities in the House and Senate. And it’s still not over till the Supremes sing. We’re told to downsize now so our kids won’t have to deal with our stuff. We’ll get right on that as soon as they take the stuff they left when they moved out, God love ‘em. No smoking apartments brought forth this quatrain: dog, walker, cigarette, and smart phone. Even in the rain. The old feel bad about their hearing aids and such. But Galileo did not regret his telescope, nor Bo Diddley his amp. @jmcdonnell123

Hello and welcome to a sunny Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is September 14th, aka the day after a Friday the 13th and two days before hubby's and my 19th wedding anniversary. The Toddler started preschool this week, while the older three kids braved a steady downpour at the cross-country meet in Warroad. With the wet weather, comes the first fires in the woodstove and the first pots of mint tea on the kitchen table. The Second Oldest finally caved and started wearing my incredibly warm and beautiful handmade Peruvian poncho from my college days, despite the unfortunate slang term given this particular garment of "drug rug." The Toddler has half-day preschool which means he's home in the afternoon. Other than the requisite lunchtime, storytime, naptime, there is still plenty of time to play and have adventures. Earlier in the week, we ventured down the neighbors' driveway for a look at the river. Along the way we found 5 or 6 different species o...