Wannaskan Almanac

It is Tuesday. Tuesday is either the second or the third day of the week, depending on how you look at it.  According to international standard ISO 8601 Tuesday is the second day of the week.  According to a guy who I ran into at Walmart, Tuesday is the the third day of the week.  I am not sure which edict carries more weight with me. The name Tuesday derives from the Old English "Tiwesdæg" and literally means "Tiw's Day". Tiw is the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Old Norse. ... The Latin name dies Martis ("day of Mars") is equivalent to the Greek ἡμέρα Ἄρεως (Iméra Áreos).  That is why the French word for Tuesday is Mardi, and the Greek word for Tuesday is Trítē.  Not to be Trite, but I like the Greek word for Tuesday best. According to unverified rankings, Tuesday is the second worst day.  It is only subtly better than Monday according to most Weekologists.  That sick feeling you have on Monday morning is replace...

The hero/heroine of this epic poem has come a very long way from birth through childhood, on through adolescence, into the early stages of adulthood. A careful study of the timeline may make the clock seem to move ahead faster than it might; however, a hero/heroine’s journey does not obey temporal laws. Sometimes, the events seem to be set in a future period; at others, the incidents appear to be in the in the realm of childhood. Another aspect that runs through this epic is the variety of other characters encountered. This alone is enough to make James Joyce sit up and pay attention. Speaking of Joyce, it may be of interest to some readers that three of the Wannaskan Almanac writers have formed a Ulysses study group: Chairman Joe, Kim Red Shoes, and Jack Pine Savage. So, if you need an annotation “dictionary” to get through some of our posts, just feel very, very scholarly. Our story now picks up speed as our traveler bids farewell (mostly) to the characters who have been with ...

The great enemy Death attacks our trenches, drops bombs, sends in assassins. Our ranks are badly thinned, but green troops keep rushing up to take our places. We praise the woodstove for pouring out his beneficent warmth without a thought for the log inside giving his all. There will be books in hell, but no light to read them by. When lambasting youth, we seniors should remember the stages of silliness we ourselves have passed through. Fisticuffs once took my teeth. Now a hard roll will do the trick. Chairman Joe

Hello and welcome to another snowy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is January 18th and boy, how 'bout that weather? Brrr! On this day, modern hockey was born which is a lucky (blogging) break for me because today just happens to be  Hockey Day Minnesota 2020  (aka HDM). Yes, folks, while we've been known to tell tall tales on occasion here at the Wannaskan Almanac, this is in fact true. Hockey fans, players and parents are gathered today in Minneapolis, the 2020 Minnesota Hockey Mecca, to celebrate the sport that defines, shapes, embodies, embraces the spirit - whichever verb that tugs on your heart strings -  of, not only the great state of Minnesota, but our Wannaskan region especially. According to  The history of Hockey Day Minnesota , the popular celebration began in 2007 with the very first puck of the very first game dropping in an outdoor rink on Baudette Bay in neighboring Lake of the Woods County. "St. Paul Johnson and Lake of the Woods ...

   Columbus gets all the credit for discovering America. The Vikings were undoubtedly here five hundred years earlier, but didn't have a big government behind them to exploit their findings. And the indigenous peoples who had been here for thousands of years get no credit whatsoever. Had they managed to develop firearms before Columbus arrived, the history of the New World would have been much different.    In his four voyages Columbus spent most of his time in the Caribbean. Only on his final voyage did he explore the North American mainland between Honduras and Panama. In 1513, twenty years after Columbus' first Voyage, someone finally discovered a part of the present day United States. That was Ponce de Leon in Florida, and he thought it was an island. Amerigo Vespucci after whom the whole place is named only explored the north coast of Brazil. But he figured out it was mostly all one gigantic island.    John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497. H...

The Rhode House: Part 1 "Yah, I seen a bus loaded vit' dem go by da town 'all 'ere, nut two 'ours ago," Sven continued." “Did ya know da tin man’s 'omestead 'as been sold to a 'uge family of kids?" Sven said, cracking the last egg against the bottom of the skillet.   “Nooo," said Ula, his curiosity aroused. Coffee steamed from his mug aside his dish, as he pulled off his honkin' tall knee-high boots as he sat at Sven's table, and put them to dry on some newspapers spread on the floor.   “Yah, I seen a bus loaded vit 'em go by da town 'all ‘ere, nut two ‘ours ago,” Sven continued, watching his three eggs fry against a mountain of lean thick-cut smoked maple-flavored bacon. “I’d gone up to da mailbox ta put a letter in. Kids vere ‘angin’ out dem vindows. Dere vas a bunch of yellin’ goin’ on too. Caught me attention, it did.”   “Vere vill dey live dere? Dere ain’t been a livable space dere fer over t’irty ye...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, January 15, 2020, the 3rd Wednesday of the year,  the 15th day of the year, with 351 days remaining, and only 78 days until April 1st. Nordhem Lunch: Chicken Strip Dinner Jackie Helms-Reynolds has a photograph featured on today's WikTel home page . Earth/Moon Almanac for January 15, 2020 Sunrise: 8:12am; Sunset: 4:54pm; 2 minutes, 7 seconds more daylight today Moonrise: 11:14pm; Moonset: 11:16am, waning gibbous Temperature Almanac for January 15, 2020                 Average           Record          Today High             14                    44              ...