Echoes of the Loafers’ Club meeting

I took another walk home.

Someone left footprints in the wet concrete. I followed them.

Where did they lead?

At the feet.

Drive by Bruce Drive

I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Every time I walk past his reader, thoughts come to mind. The road I live on is undergoing both destruction and construction. Now it’s a breathtaking road with light traffic. The signs say I should give serious thought to getting a tattoo that reads “Roadworks ahead”.

I dreamed of a time when the only thing contagious would be our laughter when I heard a quack of our most familiar duck, the mallard. Only the female mallard quacks. This one was very vocal. As the maniacal Daffy Duck said, “Don’t shut me up! I’ll make all the noise I want! WOOOOOO! WOOOOOO!”

This will leave a mark

I put on a dress and a bathrobe. I know this process all too well, but my experience does not lead to a quick completion. I was hoping this would be the most awkward part of my day. I had minor surgery and had remained somewhat consistent throughout. After being updated, they moved me on a hospital stretcher and took me to the recovery room. A man pushed me through a maze of passages. We have covered all directions in our travels. It amazed me how the stretcher drivers could navigate all those busy hallways without colliding with anyone or anything. A crushed stretcher wouldn’t be good for anyone. As I neared the end of my leisure visit, I thought of a Cherry Dilly Bar from Dairy Queen. I realized my outlook was good when my biggest concern was getting a frozen treat.

I didn’t think of the methunky. I would call it a sauerkraut cookie or cracker. I was told while eating a few of them in northeast Wisconsin that the Czech snack should be chewy, crispy, doughy and sticky. The ingredients are modest: sauerkraut, flour, salt and cracklings (brown pork fat or lard). It’s good.

Everyone is looking at something. Some of us feel things on purpose. I’m grateful when lilacs bloom on Memorial Day. It helps me remember.

I have learned

Air is not free. Buy a bag of crisps and see.

With great power comes a great electricity bill.

I don’t want to know who everyone is voting for.

Happy the flexible ones because they will not bend.

Wisdom comes where folly had been.

The bad joke department

What has four letters, never has five and sometimes has nine?

The corgiolis effect means that a breed of small dog wags its tail to the left in the northern hemisphere and to the right in the southern hemisphere.

I walked through the dessert section of a potluck with who I think was one of the Hansen boys, but I’m not sure. I went through the desserts with an unnamed Norse.

As you tear, you will sew.

Cookie Monster’s favorite band is Oreo Speedwagon.

Natural notes

The cold, late spring made the birds more obvious to people with bird feeders. Trees without extensive foliage made birds more visible, and the lack of abundant food made hungry birds more tame.

I helped birders in Utah find Waldo amid a swarm of warblers at a state park. We were fascinated by the beauty of warblers (mainly American redstarts and yellow warblers, but many other warbler species), orchard orioles, indigo sparrows and Swainson’s thrushes. I didn’t have enough eyes to go around.

In the land of 14,380 lakes (according to a DNR database), the deepest natural inland lake in Minnesota is Lake Saganaga in Cook County at 240 feet.

Albert Lea’s Dennis Disstad asked where the birds sleep at night. Birds seek places protected from weather and predators within the dense foliage of trees, shrubs or vines. Others sleep in cavities, nest boxes and niches. Many birds roost near tree trunks, which can trap some of the sun’s heat and block the wind. Some take advantage of sheltered places like barns, roofs and ledges to roost. Waterfowl sleep floating in the water, and waders like herons and egrets sleep upright in the water or on land. Birds that live in open fields or on shores can take shelter where they are. There are birds, like most owls, that work at night and during nesting seasons birds sleep in their nests at night to provide eggs and young with warmth and protection.

Adjourned meeting

Kindness is a lever that moves the world.