Citizenship Party at the Library

 I bopped down to the library around 4:30 p.m.  I had some books on the hold shelf that I should have picked up last week but was so busy last Thursday that I never got around to it.  Books stay on the hold shelf for one week before being sent back into the system.  Actually, while I did have books on the hold shelf and they had been there a week, that was just my excuse for coming into the library.  I'd received a call from one of the other volunteers that they were planning a "Welcome to America" party for Trevor on Wednesday night right at closing.  Gradually volunteers, board members, and Friends of the Library began to filter in.  Fortunately, Librarian Trevor was sequestered in his office, bent over his computer, oblivious to all of the people in the library past closing.   I was helping Volunteer Tom close up when Trevor came out of his office, ready to head home.  He asked if there was a meeting he wasn't aware of and we, of course, told him yes.  We started out w/ everyone saying the pledge of allegiance.  After that it was cake, raspberries, and other goodies.  I swear we had a better turnout of volunteers than we have for regular training sessions.  

Pin Cherry

Figured it would be the last opportunity to mow the outer trails this week. Humidity was high, wind was up, and the radar showed big storms coming in later in the afternoon.  I jumped on Svaldilfari and took off.  Things were going good - surprised that same family of turkey in the same place - and the wind and movement were just enough to keep the mosquitos and deer flies at bay.   Then I came to the draw leading to the back pastures.  It had been dry for a few days and the top looked grayish like it was dry so I turned off the mower blades and gunned it through.  Really bad idea.  While the top was crusted over, underneath was deep thick mud.  I got royally stuck.   Leaving the machine out there in a storm where there would be a lot of water running through this draw wasn't a good option.   I could walk back to the house, get Jormungandr, drive out, winch Svaldilfari out of the mud, drive one of the machines back, walk back out, and get the other machine.  Problem is I've never used the winch on Jormungandr (Note to self - try it out so I know how to do it)  and wondered if I could accomplish all of that before the storms hit.  Probably could but instead I called  Brother Russell.  He's working part time now and luckily was home.  He came down the road w/ his big John Deere, chained up the lawnmower to his tractor, and easily pulled it out.  Actually he had to do it twice.  Svaldilfari was blocking the draw and he'd come in from the west.  He pulled me out that way but unless I wanted to break the law and run the lawnmower on the road or try going across Neighbor Blake's swamp land w/ a lawnmower, I didn't have a way of getting back home.  I moved Svaldilfari out of the way and turned it around.  Russell moved his tractor to the east side of the draw and when I got stuck again, he pulled Svaldilfari through again - this time to the east side.  Russell didn't just bring his tractor and chains.    He'd also brought bug spray ( now that I wasn't moving the bugs were treating me like an all-you-can-eat buffet)  and a bottle of water (he knows I can't handle heat).  I owe him big time.

Heal-all

Svaldilfari came home this morning.  I'd noticed oil on the floor underneath him after mowing the lawn and had called John Deere back on July 1st.   A week later I called John Deere asking about his status and was told they hadn't gotten to it yet - would try to get to it that week.  Surprisingly I did get a call back that week.  The problem was a leaking O-ring and it had been replaced.   Svaldilfari would be coming home on Monday if that was OK.  I asked how much the cost would be.  I'd told the rep picking it up if it was less than a certain amount to just fix it - no need to call me for an OK.  Had hoped that would speed things along.  The charge came in just below the amount I'd told the rep.  Now I wondered if I should lower my upper limit next time. This afternoon I mowed the lawn - even though it's become quite pretty.  There are  yellow bird's-foot trefoil.  It reproduces readily via rhizomes and stolons.  You can tell since it appears in round patches.  Lots of white clover blossoms through out the lawn.  Funny, since it too reproduces in the same way bird's foot trefoil does.  It's more uniform spread throughout the lawn may be because my lawn is just an extension of the fields around me.  Clover was planted in those fields so it appears everywhere across my lawn too.  I put the mower at it's highest position so the 'grass' wasn't too traumatized.  For that reason, there are still some  trefoil flowers, some clover, some of the heal-all, and all of the bunny clover (it's really short).   Forecast is for rain tomorrow.  If the storms hold off long enough, I'll finish the outer paths too - as much of them that's above water anyway. 

Yarrow

 

Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report:

1:54 a.m. - Call from FBI states a male individual is going to commit suicide tonight.  FBI was alerted by Snapchat services.  Officer verified caller was actually FBI.  Officer made contact with male in question who denied having suicidal thoughts.  He states he is upset that his biological mother passed away.  He states he will reach out to his roommate or call the non-emergency line if he begins to have self-harm thoughts.

8:10 a.m. - Caller reports hitting a deer.  Vehicle is disabled at wayside.  Vehicle is a prisoner transport van.  All prisoners were loaded into another van and left.

9:17 a.m. - Caller reports someone shot fireworks off in their mailbox.

2:35 p.m. - Walk-in complaint regarding a white Chevy Colorado with Illinois plates came to his property.  Driver wanted to enter complainants RV to retrieve an item that the previous property owner 'got murdered over'.  Driver also asked questions about another person who lives nearby.  Complainant showed photo of the truck and asked for extra patrol of area.

3:58 p.m. - Caller at low side of Thornapple Dam fishing reports they see a kayak in the middle of the river that has something like a fishing net with it.  Did not observe anyone near the kayak.  Deputy reports the kayak was a log.

4:06 p.m. - Caller reports water running.  Maybe due to plugged drains.  Officer reports no emergency.  Home owner left hose on in yard.

6:27 p.m. - Caller states he hears chickens fighting all the day long.  Officer is not hearing noises.

7:08 p.m. - Call from female reporting she found a gun in her car.  She states she gave a ride to two males last week.  She is a felon and can't have firearms.  Gun retrieved by officer and will be held for safe keeping until owner comes forward.  Next day 5:05 p.m. - Individual claims to be owner of confiscated firearm.  Vehicle owner had given him a ride to her residence to stay the night because she has had people knocking on her apartment door.   He left firearm in her car because he did not think it was necessary to bring it into her residence.  The next morning she got mad and kicked him out.  He couldn't retrieve gun because the car was locked.  Weapon was turned over to him.

9:11 p.m. - Male pulled into driveway, left car, and went into the woods.  Deputy in contact with intoxicated male who had walked through the woods to a camping park.   Male states he began drinking after returning to his camp site.  Man told deputy he had never seen people at that driveway and needed to leave his truck, that was overheating, somewhere for the weekend.

10:14 p.m. - Complaint of aerial fireworks being lit off.  Deputy spoke with resident over the phone.  Resident states he wanted to shoot off his own fireworks due to a fear of mass shootings at fireworks shows.

11:42 p.m. - Call from concerned mother who states she is being harassed by multiple juveniles.  She states the juveniles destroyed her fake teeth by painting the dentures with nail polish.  She states she doesn't want to press charges because she will be filing a restraining order and doesn't want police action - just presence in the daytime.

Experiment 2

 

Got a call at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning from the library volunteer.  "Did you have a lot of people return books right at closing time?" she asks when I answer.  It was obvious she wondered why I'd left 30 books for her to put away.  I started explaining about Summer Reading Program, kids w/ popsicles, ducks, and the other meeting.  She was laughing by the time I took a breath.  When I said I was thinking of coming in at 10 when the library opened to help put the books away she interrupted me and said she thought I'd been through enough.  The library courier hadn't even arrived yet so she had time right now.  

This morning the phone alerted me that in ten minutes it would start to rain.  I closed all the windows I'd left open during the night, grabbed Whip, and we got in the morning constitutional just as it began to drizzle.  Only rained 1/4" before the sun came out again and a heavy smokey haze settled over the countryside.  Must be more Canadian wildfires.  I washed my sheets and got them out on the line.  Don't think they will pick up the smell but if they do it'll just make me think I'm sleeping next to a campfire.

One of last winter's experiments was to run the split A/C & Heating system in Mjolnir once a month.  It was sort of a last idea of what might keep the freon (or whatever) from leaking out of the system by the time I needed it in the summer.  Surprisingly that seems to have worked and, for the first time since Mjolnir was built, I didn't need to get a refill in the spring.  A second winter experiment was to see how much a block of oak would shrink in the dry air inside the house this winter.  My brothers cut a piece of wood similar to a cabinet door exactly 16" wide.  They drew a pencil line across it and assigned a specific tape measure to be used to measure it.  I put a picture showing the shrinkage last winter.  It took until last month before the board swelled again to it's original length.   It's been cool but humid this last week so I thought for grins I'd check the measurement again.  Don't know how to tell them it's almost 1/16th" beyond it's starting size now.

Ducks in the Library

Summer Reading Program is still going on at the library.  Tonight's theme was 'Colorful Birds'.  I hadn't expected the birds would be inside the library but there they were on tables in the back.  One cage had chickens of various types and one had ducks.  The first activity for the night was the reading of the book "The Little Red Hen" to all of the assembled children.  Then one of the children who brought in the birds explained about each bird and had eggs to 'show and tell'.  He will take these birds to the fair next month so this was good practice for him.  Any child who wanted to touch the birds or cages had to wash their hands w/ sanitizer first.  The owners were more concerned about bacteria going from the children to the birds rather than vice versa.  For a treat frozen popsicles were passed out - again inside the library.  Sticky hands and live animals next to all those books had me concerned.  (I should loosen up.)   I didn't have time to worry though since once again I was checking in books and checking out books as fast as I could.  I also had to be on hand for the children who wanted to spin the wheel for their weekly prize and stamp their paperwork.  The activities actually finished right at 7.  However, there was still about 30 books to put away and the usual shut down activities to perform.  Decided to do the shut down and leave the books for the morning volunteer.  I don't like doing that but tonight was the Town Board Meeting.  I'd met w/ the Planning Commission chairman earlier in the week and passed on all of the paperwork from the Planning meeting held in his absence but wanted to be at the meeting should there be any questions from the rest of the board.  I was 15 minutes late for the meeting but fortunately the Planning Commission was near the end of the agenda.  When I finally got home Whip was dancing around me, tongue lolling out.  Whenever I come home from volunteering at the library she gives me a warm welcome.  Have no idea what's going through her mind but I do enjoy her enthusiasm.

A guest on the constitutional

 

Yesterday Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stated (in regards to undocumented farm workers):  "The mass deportations will continue, but in a strategic way.  And we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly."  Like many statements from current government officials it's a bit maniacal and, should it not go over well in the public forum,  the speaker will insist that that's not what they meant.  That said, I believe the secretary is indicating that any gaps in the agricultural workforce caused by removing undocumented aliens can be quickly filled by Medicaid recipients.   There are problems with the secretaries'  number of 'able-bodied Medicare recipients' and even in the government's definition of 'able-bodied'.  However, let's pretend she knows what she's talking about and go w/ her premise.  There are still issues w/ her plan that need to be worked out.

1) Most Medicare recipients don't live near farms.  Not a problem.  The ICE squads that corralled and shipped off the former farm workers can be utilized to round up and move Medicare recipients (and if necessary their families) to the farms.  If there isn't sufficient accommodations for them, the government can quickly set up temporary housing as they did for detainees in the Everglades.  

2)  Ag jobs require training.   That could be a problem.  After a few unskilled people are killed by a tractor rolling over them or lose limbs while operating harvesting equipment or get crushed by a 1000 lb animal those pesky news reporters will have a field day (so to speak).  Probably best to get out ahead of any bad press by publicly denigrating Medicare recipients as lazy, worthless, leaches on society.  It will make it sound like any harm that befalls them is their own fault.

3)  Medicare recipients may not want to do farm work.  While I love milking cows, not everyone can tolerate being hit in the face w/ a dirty tail.  The truth is I haven't heard of any farmer w/ a waiting list of people looking for field/barn jobs.   It may be necessary to find ways to motivate this new workforce.  A little starvation will make them more willing.

I still haven't addressed one part of the secretary's plan: Automation.  Automation is critical in making it possible to do more work, faster, and w/ less people ... but it is expensive.  To push automation without breaking a farmer's budget will require government monetary incentives and it will take time to implement them.  Plus some farm tasks currently have no way to be automated (picking berries comes to mind).  Did the secretary confuse the real thing w/ a Minecraft farm and plans on AI doing the jobs?

I hope Secretary Rollins shares her other ideas.   (I'm always up for a good laugh.)

Whip taking a summer nap

More and more, though I enter my physical address AND P.O. Box number, a company's ordering software will summarily dismiss it as an invalid shipping address.  Our local post mistress said to put a "#331" (or whatever your P.O. box number is) at the end of my physical address.  It looks like it's an apartment or house number but, she said, the local postal workers would know it's a P.O. Box.  So I switched at the beginning of the year to doing that when I ordered anything.  It's been working great.  I get my packages up to a week earlier and they are delivered by hunky guys in shorts (but I digress).  Yes, I am getting packages quicker but none of them are sent via USPS.  I don't know why.  I assume it's because the postal service is the most expensive way to send items and, when I tracked USPS packages in the past, they often sat for days at a location.  Therefore I still didn't know that a package sent via USPS would actually be put in my P.O. Box.  Finally today I pulled a package out of the P.O. Box.    I'd been tracking it and it took some rather illogical routes but here it was.  I decided to check that the postal workers had actually used the attached number as my P.O. Box (and didn't just know to associate my name w/ a P.O. Box).  The former Post Mistress, who had suggested this trick, retired a month or so ago and this was a new Post Mistress.  I showed her the address on the package and explained what I'd done. She assured me that it was OK to do that and most workers would know to use the post office box.  Not sure I like the term "most" but, as I said, the majority of packages sent to me (now that I don't use the term "P.O. Box") come via other carriers.

Picture taken by Kathy Novey.

Water Hemlock

I'm always a little surprised in the spring to see how many cherry trees there are around when they all come into bloom at the same time.   Same thing this time of year when the elderberry bushes are all blooming.  There are bushes with white flower clusters spotting the countryside everywhere.   Plus, because the milkweed is beginning to bloom, the air smells wonderful.   Not everything w/ umbels of white flowers right now, though, is elderberry.    I noticed white flowers out on the west side of the meadow.  That's where I've seen water hemlock other years.   Whip and I jumped into Jormungandr to take a closer look.  It didn't look that wet along the path but when I jumped out, my shoes were underwater.  Well, hemlock does prefer marshy areas.  Up close easy to see these were not elderberry.  I've never checked to see if they have a fragrance.  Since all parts of the plant are poisonous, I don't want to take a chance that stopping to smell the flowers could make me sick.

Black bear and cub

After the one day, temps are back to normal.  We also have rain which, for this year, is normal too.  Whip alerted me to visitors.  This time though they were out behind the house.  Probably not of the human variety.  I got up to see what the fuss was and there was one very large bear standing up in the meadow.  She was far enough away that I felt safe to go out onto the deck and shout at her.  I don't mind her roaming the woods but she should know that coming into the meadow means people and dogs - two things bear around here avoid.  She didn't move and the reason was soon apparent as one and then two little cubs popped out of the tall grass onto a mown path.  The first cub headed straight across the path and into the tall grass on the other side.  Probably following the route mom had taken.  The second cub - like the turkey chicks - hit the short grass and liked it.  This one stood up (as it's probably seen mom do) looking in the direction the rest of it's family had taken.  The cub then dropped to all fours and trotted on down the easier to travel pathway until it intersected w/ another and turned in the direction I'd last seen mom.  Mom was still out there - invisible when she was on all fours in the tall grass.  She popped up again, figured her brood were on their way, and dropped back down out of sight.  Hopefully they were all headed for the more quiet deep woods.

Later, Whip started 'woofing' to let me know we had visitors again.  I'd heard it too -  the sound of a door buzzer on a Colombo TV rerun.  I looked over at her.  "We don't have a doorbell."  I said.  She stopped.  I don't know anything about the first three years of her life but assume that's when she learned a doorbell means guests.

First of the wild raspberries

Independence Day started off w/ quite the thunder and lightning show.  I lay in bed and watched lightning strikes out my window.  I had NPR on the radio and they had a weather expert talking about the 30-30 rule of thunderstorm safety.   Hadn't heard of it before but it made sense.  At sunrise there was a curl of smoke to the south of the village where lightning had started a barn on fire and my Internet was out.    People usually eat something special for holidays.  I made a puffed oven pancake for breakfast and a hobo dinner for lunch.  The puffed pancake was because I haven't made one in awhile and Brother Brent said he had a craving for a hobo dinner so figured I would work on the recipe.  I've made them before over Ragnarök but I felt their only appeal was you cooked them outside and ate them w/ a side of fire ash.  I gleaned ideas from a Google search and bought the fixin's earlier this week.   Pretty much how I've made them  before except I tossed the veggies in olive oil, used lean but not super lean hamburger, and added a dollop of concentrated golden mushroom soup on top before closing up the foil.  The TV ran a banner periodically warning of a heat advisory for my county.   I decided to cook it in the oven rather than sweat outside over a campfire.  The hobo dinner was actually quite good.  Good enough I'd even make it for guests.  Wrote down the recipe in my book tonight.  Then Whip and I went out on the deck to watch fireworks go off along the ridge.  

Elderberry Blossoms

I was eating breakfast when the dog started barking excitedly at the front door.  Figured it was a visitor so I got up.  The 'visitors' were a group of turkey crossing the front lawn.  The group was led by an adult and had an adult at the end.  In between were nine fuzzy chicks - not newborns but they didn't have any adult feathers yet.  Young enough that if I'd let Whip out she would have easily had turkey for breakfast.  I watched as the leader entered the tall grass.  It closed around her and she was gone.   Some of the chicks followed her but some pooled at the edge of the tall grass unwilling to enter.  Walking across a mown lawn must have seemed like Nirvana to them.  They could easily walk plus see for several feet in every direction.   Eventually, the end adult turkey also entered the tall grass.  Being left alone was too much and the chicks fell into line behind him.   There was a twitch at the top of a stalk of some nearby daisies and that was all.  The group had totally disappeared.   They had come from the meadow and headed into the hay field.  Not the best place to be this time of year.  I'm hoping they will end up down by the pond.  Waited another hour before going out.  Whip can be a very good tracker.

On a 4th of July kinda note, when I went in for library duty Librarian Trevor pulled out his U.S. naturalization document.  He passed his tests and was sworn in yesterday as a citizen.  He retains his Canadian citizenship so, should the United States become provinces of Canada, he's still covered.

Asiatic Lilies

I close the windows in the morning when I get up to trap that coolness of the night air.  Still only going to get a little over 80 degrees today - not hot enough to warrant the A/C.  I moved Svaldifari to the courtyard in a position that he couldn't be seen from the road but easily noticed to anyone driving all the way in.  John Deere said they would pick him up first thing in the morning.  I said I might not be around but that the tractor would be outside w/ the keys and they said that was fine.  I picked up Friend Nancy for breakfast in Churchville and then did some shopping (including groceries).  I got back home around 11:30 and Svaldifari was still in the same position I'd left him.  Big Sigh.  Would have to call and see what the hang-up was.  I hadn't put away the groceries before a truck pulling a trailer came in to pick up Svaldilfari .  I showed the young man the oil slick.  He checked the oil in the machine stating there was still enough to safely start it up and move it onto the ramp.  I told the man if what needed to be done was under a certain cost amount they didn't need to get my approval - just fix it.   The man thought Svaldilfari was a 2017 model and maybe I should look into getting a new one.   He didn't realize Svaldilfari is over 10 years older than that.  (It's the clean living - stays in a heated garage out of sunlight and gets yearly maintenance by the dealership.)   I haven't received a call yet from John Deere.  Either means it was just leakage through the seals which is a minor fix -or- no one has gotten around to figure out what's wrong w/ him.  The sun is shining straight through my bedroom window before it sets behind the ski hill.  Time to open up the windows.

Doe and fawn

In the refrigerator is cheese, wieners, and apples.  Not what I wanted for breakfast.  Before I could go out though there were things to do.  Gathered up the garbage and took it out to the bin.  When I moved the bin to  just beyond the shoulder of the road I saw the flashing lights of a small tractor coming.  Watched for a moment and  realized it was the county mower w/ an attachment so he could get well down into the ditches.  I moved my garbage bin out of his way so he wouldn't have to lift his mower.  Was rewarded w/ a smile and a wave as he passed. Back at the house I got out my phone and called John Deere.  I had mowed the lawn yesterday and saw an oily slick on the concrete underneath Svaldilfari.  Yes, they would pick it up and fix it.  Started a load of laundry and took off for the village.  Before I got there, stopped off at Mechanic Eric's shop.  He said he could change my oil next week.  I also told him a friend had heard a noise from the back and it might be the ball bearings.  He laughed, "Usually it's a friend that notices it.  It builds slowly and the driver doesn't even realize there is anything different."  He'd check it out when he changes the oil.  Finally stopped at the cafe for breakfast and then walked down the block for a latte.  The clothes were ready to hang out on the line when I got back.   Another pop-up storm in the afternoon almost gave them a rinse but fortunately the thunder warned me something was coming and I got the clothes off the line in time. Through the first half of the year the weatherman talked about how we were below our normal rainfall amounts.  This June may have remedied that.