Shades of Thailand

        Joanne, the woman who'd go out in sub-zero weather with a wind breakers, did not like heat and humidity. She braved the tropical heat of SE Asia once, to visit our daughter. Walking in the cemetery today brought back memories of my time teaching school in Thailand. "Thailand was like this I thought." Living there without A/C was tolerable. 

      But, today?, with a cool house and good book I opted to leave the heat and humidity. There was nothing pressing on the work front. Cedars and rocks will wait. An exceptionally good book was a way to focus some time.

    Living the good life in The Little House!

Takk for alt,

Al

Find Al in this picture!

Puzzle?

        My two cornfields are 12 miles apart and as different as night and day. Field one is where the geese grazed last year. It's on a south slope with mature trees to the north. Geese grazed two thirds of it down to bare soil. With few cornstalks to bother I did minimum tillage before planting. The corn is growing nicely and weeds, especially water hemp, blanket the ground.

      Then there's the other field. No geese grazed there so there was much corn standing into the winter. When I chopped the stalks this spring the ground was yellow with shelled corn. During the days between chopping a plowing birds ate much of that waste corn...but not enough. Now the volunteer corn is no thick it's hard to determine where the rows are. Some weeds have begun to germinate. Both the corn and the weeds are much smaller in this field than in the other.

    Why is there such a difference in the two fields. Perhaps it's soil temperature. Where the growth is slow the soil was covered with chopped cornstalks acting as a blanket which wouldn't allow the ground to warm up. Then the ground was plowed, tilled and planted in a couple of days. After planting there were many days of cool or cold temperatures not conducive to warming the soil. That contrasts with the other field which tilts toward the sun and the black soil absorbing the sun's heat.

    This post is a testament to the simple life I lead.😄

Takk for alt,

Al

Erased!

     Yesterday while I was out cutting cedars, what else?, there was multi-bird serenade. Turning on the Merlin app, what else?, over twenty species were recorded. Many of the usual suspects; Bobolink, Grackle, Pheasant, Red-Wing and Yellow Headed blackbirds, Marsh Wren, Etc. Another one, very common in my experience, but one I'd never heard...a Pie Bill Grebe, a water bird.

    While standing in the grass recording, water behind a dam was not far away. In my youth we called Grebe's 'Hell Divers'. Swimming in the water a few yards away if anything alarmed them they'd dive and re-surface a long way away. In fact they were so elusive that attempts to shoot them was futile. So quick they'd be under water and away before shot reached them. (I know, shooting at them wasn't good and was even illegal.)  Recording one was a revelation to me. 

   Unfortunately I neglected to save the recording. Attempting to replay it back at the house and it was not retrievable. Perhaps I can re-record it later.

Takk for alt,

Al

 

The Pied-billed Grebe is the most widespread grebe in the New World, and the most familiar in most temperate parts of North America. Far less sociable than most grebes, almost never in flocks, sometimes found singly on small marshy ponds. When disturbed or suspicious, it may sink slowly until only head is above water. Rarely seen in flight. Often secretive in the breeding season, hiding in marsh, making bizarre whinnying, gobbling, cooing noises by day or night.

June 6, 1964

     It was beautiful June day, five days after graduating from Augustana, that Joanne and I were married. The wedding was at First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, S.D. Pastor Marcus Gravdal presided and Joanne's father, The Rev. Dr. Oscar C. Hanson did the homily. Choral music was provided by the Augustana College Choir. The late Mary (Hanson) Trodahl was the maid of honor and David Negstad the best man.

   Here's bit of humor connected to the event. As I was living at First Lutheran, assistant custodian and night watchman, the Norwegian wedding cake, kransakake, for the reception was kept in my apartment. Joanne's mother was very concerned that ants not find the cake, though in the year I'd lived there I'd never seen an ant. She provided my with ant poison to protect the pastry. Waking in the middle of the night, I realized I hadn't placed the poison so I got up and protected it. No ants found either the poison or the cake.

   I'm very grateful that we had a big fiftieth wedding anniversary party because three years later, she died. So, now for 8+ years I've lived in the land of grief with the presence of absence. Our marriage was a wonderful blessing to me, for which I'm eternally grateful.

Takk for alt,

Al

A kransakake that my granddaughter baked.

    

Best Gift Ever...

 

  

       For her 50th birthday I gave Joanne six weeks of dancing lessons. Her family of origin saw dancing as evil, but, with her musical background she understood rhythm. Living in Germanic Davenport, IA., every wedding featured a dance at the reception. We sat like bumps on a log while others danced.

      Lost in time is what led me to give her the Arthur Murray dancing lessons. After six weeks we renewed and renewed, for the two years we remained in Davenport. We picked up on the lessons when we moved to Minnesota.

      We'd go to a lesson tired from work and soon the fatigue would lift as we concentrated on the music and our steps. Now wedding dances were fun as we joined the dancers on the floor. 

      Joanne's father wrote a pamphlet That Dangerous Dance. We were dancing at a wedding reception which was attended by on of her father's friends. That friend accosted Joanne saying "What would your father say about you dancing?" Without missing a beat she replied, "He's in heaven now so he's free from those rules." The friend was speechless but his wife laughed out loud.

Takk for alt,

al

Marking Time While Weeds Sprout!

       The corn in my modest fields was reluctant to sprout. Was it planted too deep?  Was it cold soil and weather? The fact that weeds have also been slow to germinate suggests the corn's emergence is related to temperature and not depth of planting.

     The good news is that there is no sign of goose predation. Yesterday there were no observable geese on the water. The soybean field on the other side of the water has been fenced to keep the geese out. An electric fence powered by a solar unit keeps the geese at bay. If it's anything like other electric fences I've encountered one zap should be all a goose would need to learn a lesson. Local farmers who plant sweet corn also use electric fences to keep racoons out. Racoons with access to sweet corn will decimate a patch in one night.

    With the two pastures where cedars are invading are encircled with activated electric fencing. The shock of those fences is almost enough to knock me down. The cattle in one of those pastures are removed in early July. When they're gone I'll pursue those cedars. 

    Why do they leave in early July? These cattle graze on the invasive grasses which emerge in early spring. Their cropping encourages the native, summer grasses to flourish. It's taken over 30 years but gradually the native big bluestem grass has partially returned.

Takk for alt,

Al

Story

 

       There's a story about potato beetles that Dad told. Of course this was long before pesticides when potato beetles were menace. "An advertisement appeared in a farm paper. 'Sure fire method for ridding your potato patch of potato beetles. Send $5.00 to (address).' In response the sender received this message. 'Fill a quart jar half full of turpentine, drop the beetles into the jar.'"  The $5.00 at the time of the ad would be equivalent to about $100. today. 😀 Of course I neglected to ask if he'd sent $5.00!

       When I opened the door of my truck I was greeted by a jar of strawberry/rhubarb jam and six  chocolate chip cookies! Which reminds me of this story.  "Bruce was home visiting his mother in Sinai.

When they drove downtown she made sure to lock the car doors. 'Mom, do have to lock in Sinai?' 'Yes, if you don't lock your car in August, when you come back to it, it will be full of zucchini.'" 

Takk for alt,

al

Potato Bug also known as a Jerusalem Cricket.