Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting
I don’t hear as well as I used to.
You should get hearing aids.
No, I’ve heard enough.
Driving by Bruce's drive
I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me. I think we all agree that winter is a rip-roaring good time, but I watched people walk on the ice like spiders missing five legs. Years ago, I had a bout with plantar fasciitis. The doctor told me to put my foot down and wear Crocs when I’d normally go barefooted. I took her advice. It wasn’t long after when we received 18 inches of snow. It was a warm day, so I shoveled snow while wearing my Crocs. They might have shed Croc tears.
It feels as if my stomach drops when I drive over a dip or a hill on a road. It’s as if my body went up but my stomach stayed in place. It’s the feeling gotten on a rollercoaster without the rollercoaster. I call it a “Thank you, Ma’am,” because my head nods. Some people call it belly tickles. Years ago, an elderly friend lost his driver’s license because he drove on the wrong side of the road. He wasn’t tickled. He felt it was unfair as he paid taxes on both sides and suffered from good health, which drove him to drive.
Merry melodies
I’ve worked at the Freeborn County Fair for many years. The Fair brings in big-name entertainment. George Jones (“He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “She Thinks I Still Care”) was one of my father’s favorite singers. I should have told Jones about my father’s fondness for his vocal gifts, but I didn’t. Chubby Checker (famous for “The Twist”) hung around long after his show and had his photo taken with many fans. Few performers linger long. Most disappear like butter on a baked potato. I thanked him and told him what a lovely thing he was doing and how it brightened lives. I didn’t have my photo taken with him because I hadn’t attended the concert due to work.
I went to school during the day and worked from 11 to 7 at night. Those two activities were in two different cities and neither one was in the city in which I lived. I tried to sneak in a few hours of sleep in the afternoons, but it wasn’t easy. The local high school band practiced. That was how they became accomplished and stayed that way. The band didn’t have a tuba player, but I think someone might have played the threeba. The band marched directly to the front of our house and stopped while the instructor, acting like a drill sergeant, yelled that no one was taking another step until they got it right. There were days when I thought that next step would never occur.
I’ve learned
There are few better names for a Minnesota sports team than the Snow Fleas.
If I owned a small sheep, it would be named Woolite.
To put rocks in my pockets when visiting the Wind Farmer’s Market.
I ate with friends at Lou Malnati’s in Chicago. We shared a deep-dish pizza. Some claim it’s a casserole or a hotdish. I thought it was a pizza, but didn’t care what it was called. It was good.
A little knowledge and a little arthritis go a long way.
Nature notes
I saw blue snow in the yard. It looked as if someone had stepped on a Smurf, spit out mouthwash or spilled antifreeze. Rabbit droppings came out of the blue. Rabbits have round droppings while deer pellets are oval-shaped with one pointed end. When rabbits feed on the bark, twigs and branches of invasive buckthorn, they expel a chemical in their urine that turns blue.
Snow fleas bear resemblance to specks of black pepper on the snow’s surface. This primitive insect is dark blue-gray, about 1/10-inch long, wingless and has a forked appendage at the end of its abdomen called a furcula that allows it to jump several inches and gives it the name “springtail.” Snow fleas live in the soil and leaf litter where they eat microscopic fungi, algae and decaying organic matter. They go unnoticed during the summer, but have a high tolerance for colder temperatures compared to most other insects. As the snow starts to melt in late winter, they move up through breaks in the snow, especially around the base of trees. Snow fleas are harmless to people.
Thank you
To Good Samaritan, Hidden Creek, Bancroft Creek Estates, the 23rd Annual Ag Summit and Love Works at United Methodist Church in Ellendale for allowing me to speak to good folks.
Meeting adjourned
If we can’t make someone’s life better, the least we can do is to not make it any worse. Be kind.