Memory

One the plus side, finally, after weeks of complications my beloved, easy to type desktop has been returned in fine working order. Yea!!!!
Here it's been one of those slow winter days for me and a certain G.S. D.  The weather seems to becoming more of a determining factor as sub zero temperatures and icy roads

and sidewalks  tend to discourage me from long hikes with the dog. Maybe even the creative process is being hindered. In any case, coming up with a new blogging topic today has been a struggle but with there is always hope... Lets go back a few summers and remember.....
From the musical Cats
 "If you touch me. All alone with my memory. Of my days in the sun.
You'll understand what happiness is
Look a new day has begun."

  Places. Events. Things. Sounds. Tastes. Smells. Most of all people. All parts of our memories. And the green of summer gardens & flowers.

 

"  An Epiphyllum or orchid cactus."  

This beautiful plant, much like some sort of a giant Christmas cactus, reminds me of a friend. She is mostly gone from my life now, living far away. Her name is Mary Ann. She was teacher colleague and mentor for me in the art of organizational politics. She once gave me a small cutting which many years later hangs from the front porch. Each time I see it I think of her....

People: a neighbor, Angie, who offered me a "few" plants for my new shady garden. When she filled up my lawn tractor wagon with them, I knew the garden could not fail. Thinking of this special place, I cannot help but be reminded of her generosity.









These beautiful yellow irises came from my Uncle Walt. Fond memories spring forth of his gentle humor and his three brothers (including my father) debating the politics of that time in my childhood. "He should never have fired McArthur!" "Yes he should have. The military is to be under civilian control. Besides Truman is for the working man."












This battered old kerosene lantern came from my parents neighbor Art. Art was a yard engineer for the Milwaukee Road. Memory transports me again back to my childhood in the early 50's. I'm on a turntable inside the cab of a steam engine. Throwing a shovel of coal into the firebox. Pulling a cord for the whistle. Doing that which most little boys could only dream of.... Thanks Art.
Memory. It often keeps  me going.



For more details on orchid cacti. Click on link below.


  http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/21/3153756/orchid-cacti-are-easy-to-grow.html

 

Last Child In The Woods

Last Child In The Woods by RICHARD LOUV

Book Review - Click on Mark Twain above...........

Strange Feeling

Still waiting for my desktop to arrive so in the meantime  from 2008 an early post starring Mrs. T's Simba & my best buddy Baron....:)

I've had this strange feeling since last summer. It's like I'm being watched. No, I'm not paranoid. It always happens when seated at the dinner table. I thought at first maybe it was Simba-Lord of Oak Hill  (a.k.a. Mr Innocent according to Mrs. T). Well, I would be first to admit he is usually pretty laid back. But I have caught him up on the kitchen counter and the dinning room table, when I was distracted, trying to nab a bite out of the people food.

There is though another table out on the deck. I wonder if......

Well Baron.  It's  the BIG GSD alright. He gets to come in after supper.  Must be getting hungry.....

Slow Improvement (Dec 2009)

Still waiting upon the rehab of my desktop, so lets jump back & revive an early post from 2009. I was a novice birder back then and knew even less about photography. Take note of the finger, blurring the bottom of the photo.  I had a lot to learn.....

What were they? I Didn't have a clue.
So there it is. Good picture if you like silhouettes. Otherwise its obvious Mr Novice Birder-Photographer (me) needed help. These two flighty rascals had shown up at my platform feeder several times a week since December. The problems were, first of all, they darted in and out from the nearby pine trees with no warning, landed on the platform and stayed there an average of 1.3 seconds. I was never ready and they hardly ever came in more than once or twice per visit. Secondly, when they did  visit, it was usually early morning or toward evening. Morning visits were shaded by the house and evening visits, I'm looking directly into the sun from my living room vantage point. These birds are quite rare here in Minnesota. For the unaware, or visually handicapped they are tufted titmice. Grrrr.

Winter Wonderland

Still waiting  for a rehab report on my desktop. So  the balky laptop is recycling a 2010 weather report. Then it was lots of snow. Tonight the weather forecast predicts temperatures at -25 F.  Some wind too. 
Yes here in Bluff  Country a.k.a the "Banana Belt" of southern Minnesota, we consider ourselves lucky to live in the warmer part of the state. Now  no  whining  when subfreezing temperatures  spread temporarily into the more southernly parts of the lower forty-eight, well. .... get a life folks!  GSD's love the cold weather. There are always squirrels and rabbits to chase.  Odds of catching something increase in the deep snow. Snowmobile trails are especially fun!

The key to warming up is to keep everyone involved in snow clearance operations.

After a very mild & late fall winter has definitely arrived here.

Well maybe not quite this much but still...................

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland.

Eulogy

She was a good old gal & served Troutbirder well these many years. Now she is in the computer hospital in Cresco Iowa. I wait anxiously  for news of her recovery or demise. Here at home her younger sister, the laptop, really leaves me mostly helpless except  for reading the morning paper & emails.  A jumpy cursor and hunt & peck won't work for blogging. I may have to recycle some old posts in the meantime. Patience is a virtue of which I'm in short supply of.......Still in the immortal words of General Douglas MacArthur "I shall return.".....:)

Historical Photography Quiz (Part V)

 

It was a very hot July day and we were on a vacation trip to Canada’s Maritime Provinces. Heading north though the beautiful Hudson River Valley we made a stop to examine a famous American battlefield. It was tramping through a wooded area that I came upon an unusual monument.   The monument is dedicated to “the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army” though he is not mentioned by name.   Surely he was wounded though as we see a bullet hole in the boot. His name was……?
Click on Mark Twain above to jump to Troutbirder II and check your answer....

The Burning Bush

Love is a burning thing                          

And it makes a firery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell in to a ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire

The Burning Bush

Across Our Front Yard ... A Ring of Fire

 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.