Ever since I was a small child I considered myself an entertainer. I remember excusing myself from the supper table when I was about eight or nine and I made some silly departing comment that caused my family to roar with laughter. Scientists have since discovered that such activities cause the brain to release ‘feel good’ chemicals called endorphins. I learned at an early age entertaining others made me feel good. My earliest memory of entertaining an audience occurred during my junior…..
I know I shouldn’t downplay the climate change idea but I live in the middle of North America so the rising seas aren’t going to affect me. Currently my pumpkin patch is not suffering from a drought. Since I live in Minnesota famous for its brutal winters I’d even enjoy a little winter weather moderation. I am currently under a more serious attack and it has nothing to do with changing climates. I am having a problem with the critters currently living…..
I know what you’re thinking. This blog writer has lost it! Memorial Day is approaching and he’s writing a blog about getting ready for Halloween. Give me a second and I can explain. What is the major decoration or symbol for Halloween? No, I’m not speaking of witches, ghosts, corn shocks, black cats or corn mazes. They are all an important part of the Halloween celebration but it wouldn’t be Halloween without pumpkins. Now where do you suppose pumpkins come from? They don’t just appear magically…..
When I was in high school our English teacher required us to memorize Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem, Trees. “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree, A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth’s sweet flowing breast.” It continues on for several more verses but I won’t share the complete poem with you because the first few lines are all that are required to make it very evident that Mr. Kilmer wasn’t picturing…..
The bowling season has just come to an end. It was a disappointing season. Our State Bank Team is a seasoned team. That’s a polite way of saying we have a lot of old guys on our team. The young guys throw the ball 80 mph while us gray haired fellas probably muster about a 40 mph ball speed. However, we often shine during the end of the season tournament because most of our State Bank team members don’t drink beer or…..
It’s time to spread some manure on the garden and pumpkin ground. I try to do that every two years. So today I spent time getting my trailer tail lights to correctly indicate a left turn, a right turn as well as indicating to anyone behind me that I’m preparing to stop. Once I’ve accomplished that I will be ready to venture onto the highway and go get a load of sheep manure to enrich the garden soil. My mechanical skills…..
You are probably trying to get over the excitement of my last blog when I shared my high school running career with you.(sarcasm 🙂 ) It consisted of three meets. However in one of those meets I set the mile record for the Clinton Rocket track team and became the Pheasant Conference Mile Champion while doing it. As my running career was just taking off the school cut the track program my senior year. That was both good news and bad news. The good…..
The other day I received a message from a friend who was preparing to run a 10K(6 miles) and she wanted some advise about training for such a race. I had been a runner for 40 years until a knee problem turned me into a walking golfer and I also had been a cross country coach for 13 years. So I guess she thought I should have some knowledge about training distance runners. That request got me thinking about the very beginning of my…..
This weekend I was attending a recognition day for an 87 year old lady who had been my teacher two years in a row some 65 years ago. First I should explain that ‘two years in a row’ thing…no, I didn’t flunk a grade! When I was in the second grade my teacher taught a combined class of 2nd and 3rd graders. The next year she taught only 3rd graders and since I had successfully passed the 2nd grade I was in her third…..
Yesterday I finally took a hike with a friend that I have been meaning too hike with for several months. I pulled my pair of snowshoes down off the hook on the garage wall and wrestled them onto my boots. In 1980 we moved to a 7.9 acre plot of land out in the country several miles west of Wheaton. Immediately I developed a close friendship with the southern edge of our property as it contained a creek. I had never experienced a…..