It seems like I must be one of the last persons to read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand who also wrote Seabiscut. Our book club will be discussing it at our next meeting.
The book tells the story of Louis Zamperini an American Olympic runner whose plan crashed in the Pacific during the Second World War. He was captured by the Japanese and held as a POW until the end of the war. His post war life was also fascinating. I recommend the book.
Now I'm reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Mann is a good writer and this is written as popular book for a general audience. It is causing me to rethink much of what I though I knew about America before Columbus.
I'd appreciate comments about these books in the comment area of this blog.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Donkey, Camel and other Critters
Memorial Day weekend found us in Fargo for a wedding reception followed by my brother's Golden Anniversary Celebration in SD. So Lars, Melissa, Mai-Evy and Sella joined us at The Little House on the Prairie. Mai-Evy's response to the house as she ran around "This is amazing!"
A local farmer has a menagerie that includes longhorn cattle, donkeys and camels mixed in with his horses and cattle. His farm is a bit out of town but he has a small pasture at the edge of town. That pasture currently contains three donkeys, two horses and a camel.
Lars and Mai-Evy hiked over to the pasture to see the animals. The critters came to the fence and stretched out their necks. That gave Lars the idea of feeding them carrots so they got a handful of carrots from the house and returned to the pasture. The carrots were a big hit with the camel and donkeys feeding out of Mai-Evy's hand. When the carrots were gone Mai-Evy picked sweet clover and kept feeding the animals.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera but I had taken a few pictures of the critters on a previous trip which I will include.
A local farmer has a menagerie that includes longhorn cattle, donkeys and camels mixed in with his horses and cattle. His farm is a bit out of town but he has a small pasture at the edge of town. That pasture currently contains three donkeys, two horses and a camel.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera but I had taken a few pictures of the critters on a previous trip which I will include.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Out of the ashes new life.
A few weeks ago I burned a field of grass to suppress invasive species like Bromegrass and revitalize the Big Blue Stem and Switch grass Now the field is green with grass about eight inches high as you can see on these pictures.
"Thank you! Mr. Al"
Volunteering in the fifth grade classrooms at Noble School this year has been a great joy. It's been my pattern to go any morning I'm free. It's an ideal volunteer situation because I can just show up, I have no preparation and no discipline issues.
Last week the teachers asked if I could come some afternoon and we agreed that I'd do that today. When I arrived I discovered that it was a "Thank You" party for me. They gave me a framed picture of the class, and two booklets containing "thank you" letters from each of the students. The students mentioned specific things I'd done for which they were grateful. Desperately sweet! Then we went out on the lawn and played for an hour.
Next year I plan to continue working, both with these students as sixth graders, and with the new fifth grade class. One of the teachers is moving on to sixth with her class and the other is staying in fifth grade. Sixth grade math is beyond me but I can help them with many other things. With a potential of four classes in which to volunteer perhaps I'll spend more time there. :)
Last week the teachers asked if I could come some afternoon and we agreed that I'd do that today. When I arrived I discovered that it was a "Thank You" party for me. They gave me a framed picture of the class, and two booklets containing "thank you" letters from each of the students. The students mentioned specific things I'd done for which they were grateful. Desperately sweet! Then we went out on the lawn and played for an hour.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Conversations with 5th graders.
Last week I was conversing with two girls in one of the fifth grade classes at Noble, where I volunteer regularly. We were discussing our families and I asked C. if she had any brothers. C. said "No". I said "That's too bad." L. spoke up and said "I have nine brothers." I said to C. "Maybe you can borrow one from L. since she has nine." L. said "I'm C.'s aunt."
How do you teach working carefully? Testing is incessant and much teaching is working towards the tests. After a recent round of testing the class was working on their math skills because many had not tested very well. I was working with a small group of students on math problems on a worksheet. Most of them knew how to do the problems but it took 2 or 3 tries before they got the correct answer. Why? Careless mistakes. Tests do not give second chances.
How do you teach working carefully? Testing is incessant and much teaching is working towards the tests. After a recent round of testing the class was working on their math skills because many had not tested very well. I was working with a small group of students on math problems on a worksheet. Most of them knew how to do the problems but it took 2 or 3 tries before they got the correct answer. Why? Careless mistakes. Tests do not give second chances.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
100 hundred trees later.....or better late than never!
Tree planting is part of my heritage. My grandfather, Lars Negstad, took over a partially completed homestead in Brookings Country, SD. in 1885. He planted a large, horseshoe shaped, grove of trees around the buildings. This grove was maintained by my father, Albert, while he farmed the land, as did my brother, David, and my nephew Wayne is doing today. David also added terraces to the farm to control water and erosion. On some of these terraces he planted trees.
When I enrolled 64 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program 5 years ago some options were available under terms of the contract. Most of the acres are in native grasses, some of which I burned recently. There was also the option of putting 10% of the acreage into a food plot for wildlife thus my adventures in corn planting. In addition I could plant an addition 10% in trees, which I did, planting 2400 trees.
The Brookings County Soil Conservation District sells replacement trees for those that died at low cost. Last year I ordered 75 Eastern Red Cedar at a dollar a piece. There was a mix up in my order and I didn't get the trees. This year, with the predicted drought, I decided not to order any. However, this year the District contacted me and told me to come get my trees; the ones I ordered last year.
It rained 4 inches on this land last week so I took the offer of trees as a sign and took them. They actually gave me 100 trees, so Monday I hand planted them. The moist ground gives them a good chance of survival. They are bare root, perhaps 3 or 4 years old, from six inches to a foot tall, with at least a foot of roots. Two years ago I planted 200 in a day while it rained. This year it was good weather and 100 was quite enough for the day.
The adjacent burn area is now 80% green. I anxiously await to see how the grass grows back.
When I enrolled 64 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program 5 years ago some options were available under terms of the contract. Most of the acres are in native grasses, some of which I burned recently. There was also the option of putting 10% of the acreage into a food plot for wildlife thus my adventures in corn planting. In addition I could plant an addition 10% in trees, which I did, planting 2400 trees.
The Brookings County Soil Conservation District sells replacement trees for those that died at low cost. Last year I ordered 75 Eastern Red Cedar at a dollar a piece. There was a mix up in my order and I didn't get the trees. This year, with the predicted drought, I decided not to order any. However, this year the District contacted me and told me to come get my trees; the ones I ordered last year.
It rained 4 inches on this land last week so I took the offer of trees as a sign and took them. They actually gave me 100 trees, so Monday I hand planted them. The moist ground gives them a good chance of survival. They are bare root, perhaps 3 or 4 years old, from six inches to a foot tall, with at least a foot of roots. Two years ago I planted 200 in a day while it rained. This year it was good weather and 100 was quite enough for the day.
The adjacent burn area is now 80% green. I anxiously await to see how the grass grows back.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
The Corn is Planted!
In 2010 I planted corn in April, last year on June 10, because it was so wet and this year on May 1. Planting had to wait until I could retrieve free seed from SD Game Fish and Parks. With seed corn selling for $200. per bushel, or more, a 70 mile drive to Huron for free seed seemed a good idea. The seed was to be available at 1:00 and I was waiting when the truck arrived at 12:30.
Thunderstorms were predicted and the stiff south wind was pumping moisture up from the gulf. A hurried trip back followed by rapid planting meant that I just finished when the first rain drops fell. A thunderstorm was developing over my head. I skipped the post planting harrowing of the field and got back to town with out getting wet..
For the first time I planted some grain sorghum, too. By filling two end seed boxes on the four row planter with sorghum the field will have four rows of sorghum interspersed with four rows of corn. Lacking the proper planter plates for sorghum I used corn plates. On one row I ducked tape half of the plate's holes closed to try to limit the amount of sorghum planted. The sorghum seeds are quite small; think of a small black peppercorn, so using corn plates with the larger holes spreads too many sorghum seeds. I tried this sorghum experiment on about half of the field. Pheasants love sorghum but the plants are only about 30 inches tall so the corn will provide better snow and wind protection.
Thunderstorms were predicted and the stiff south wind was pumping moisture up from the gulf. A hurried trip back followed by rapid planting meant that I just finished when the first rain drops fell. A thunderstorm was developing over my head. I skipped the post planting harrowing of the field and got back to town with out getting wet..
For the first time I planted some grain sorghum, too. By filling two end seed boxes on the four row planter with sorghum the field will have four rows of sorghum interspersed with four rows of corn. Lacking the proper planter plates for sorghum I used corn plates. On one row I ducked tape half of the plate's holes closed to try to limit the amount of sorghum planted. The sorghum seeds are quite small; think of a small black peppercorn, so using corn plates with the larger holes spreads too many sorghum seeds. I tried this sorghum experiment on about half of the field. Pheasants love sorghum but the plants are only about 30 inches tall so the corn will provide better snow and wind protection.
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