Wannaskan Almanac

 "Just Do It."  Several months ago, Marion Solom gave me her late husband Jerry's  Harley-Davidson coffee cup that I had given him 14 years ago as he suffered with leukemia. He was a close friend of mine and as a result, every time I pull the cup from our cupboard, of course I think of him. I think it's imbued with his mechanical genius a little bit because afterward I get ideas about how to do some task I've been pondering over for weeks. Imbued with mechanical genius       As I looked at the huge collection of potted cedar trees and the various bundled, bagged, and boxed evergreen seedlings in the refrigerated trailer parked outside the Soil & Water Conservation District office in Roseau last Tuesday, I was reminded somewhat of the tree planting quantities similar to those, in 2012, when Chairman Joe, his wife Teresa, and my wife Jackie, helped me plant 16,500 trees using my tractor and pull-behind tree planter.     Jackie helped s...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for May 24, 2023, the twenty-first Wednesday of the year, the tenth Wednesday of spring, and the one-hundred forty-fourth day of the year, with two-hundred twenty-one days remaining.   Wannaska Phenology Update for May 24, 2023 Apple Trees Blossoming Now all we need is pollinators. Only eight more days left in No Mow May . Check here out for other ways to help bees and other spring pollinators. Watch for aurora borealis tonight ! And yes, Teresa, the blueberry flowers are looking good. May 24 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special : Potato Dumpling May 24 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch : Updated daily by 11:00am, usually. Earth/Moon Almanac for May 24 2023 Sunrise: 5:32am; Sunset: 9:10pm; 2 minutes, 10 seconds more daylight today Moonrise: 9:19am; Moonset: 1:28am, waxing crescent, 18% illuminated. Temperature Almanac for May 24, 2023                 Average ...

Did you ever wonder what the world would be like without the letter " S "?  I think many of our word would be hard to decipher.  We could put the letter c wherever there was cuppoced to be an s  but that could be confucing.   But what if we did away with the letter " C " instead.  That ould help end the onfusion, but would you really want to eat an ookie?  That just sounds razy!  The letter c  is so important that we should probably have ongress pass a law odifying its existene! So what letter should we get rid of?  Q  and Z  are often just pains in the rear end when playing scrabble.  Perhaps we should get rid of both of those.  It would make uies easier in school.  And think of how much fun it would be to say oo when visiting an oo.   The language with the most letters is Khmer (Cambodian), with 74.  I suppose it would be okay to lose a couple of those letters.  Here are some samples: From w...

Last January Jim and I packed our car to the gills for an extended stay in Florida. We loaded in trash bags full of warm weather clothes; the usual beach towels, and blankets. Beach chairs got crammed on top of boxes of cooking spices. Random stuff got tucked in like golf clubs, shoes, books, and yoga mats. No one would think we had room for one more thing - except for me. The last thing to go into the car before we took off, and the most precious?            I’ll get to that, but first a little background; I’ve got a bit of an issue and to support my fixation I, well, I kind of, sort of, steal. I don’t hide my habit; anyone who knows me sees the evidence.  If you go out for a walk with me you just might see me in action. Heck, you all are probably partners in crime. It’s hard for me to trace the origins of this condition. I don’t remember anyone giving me direct instruction. On the other hand, both my father and both grandfathers were known for t...

  Motel breakfast nook TV guide: Red state: Fox News. Blue state: MSNBC.  Purple state: The Weather Channel.  Let your red be red and your blue be blue.  Your purple I will spew out.  I need more perverseness wrung out of me. As it now stands, I would be bored with Paradise within two weeks.  Spiritual athletes are in training not to wrestle with their demons but to outrun them.   To increase their humility, the priest and the nun ask God to give them a daily humiliation.    Married people need not bother God with such a request.  For those who lack intuition, “intuitive” is a trigger word.  A super long sentence can be a smart thing for a writer.  A period might be an excuse for the reader to wander off.  I’m sick of all this chatter about AI. Is ChatGPT going to wipe my butt when I’m old and feeble? In the feminist Bible Eve had no intention of eating the apple, but Adam kept begging her to do it till she finally said, a...

Hello and welcome to a sweet-smile Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is May 20th. Like most Saturdays this past school year, I'm up early to write today's blog post. On what looks to be a promising, sunny day, Little Kitty is curled up in my lap with eyes clamped shut and a sweet smile on her feline lips. My coffee is still hot in its mug as I enjoy the ball of sunshine beaming through the branches of a pine tree. The grass is thick and lush. My husband has outdoor plans to do car maintenance and mow the lawn. The bikes are out. The outdoor cats are prowling the neighborhood. The Bleeding Heart I planted last year is sprouting promising shoots. I think it's safe to say Wannaskaland has been blessed with a bout of spring. Winter is behind us. Thank goodness. I'm someone who genuinely enjoys winter. I like sweaters more than short sleeves; bundling up more than dressing down. But this last winter? Oof. For all my positivity, this last January-February-March f...

    We ended up in Spokane, Washington after our week on the cruise boat up the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  Our car was waiting at the airport where we had left it several days earlier. We had another goal before returning home: to visit Becky's grandson Garrett in Port Townsend, Washington.    Port Townsend is in the Seattle-Tacoma  area, on the northern tip of one of the many peninsulas that form Puget Sound. It's a hotbed of wooden boat building and repair. Garrett had moved to Port Townsend three years ago to attend a wooden boat building school. The school was closed that year for Covid, but Garrett moved there anyway, got a job, and made some valuable contacts.   From Spokane to Port Townsend is the same distance as Wannaska to the Twin Cities, with rush-hour Tacoma standing in for Minneapolis. Port Townsend is a working town, but is also a big tourist destination. To maintain its toney Victorian-era atmosphere, fast food restaurants and chain mo...