On April 1, Genie let me play an April fool with her being a good sport and falling for it even though she knew it was coming. She can explain the Red Cherry that I claimed the chickadee was eating.
Last fall the chickadee parents raised three babies. All five came to our sunflower and peanut butter feeders this winter and into this spring. A grayish-feathered hawk showed up in March – We now see three chickadees.
Can two boys bring a neighborhood together? Yes, Isaac age 10 and Elijah age six are most certainly doing just that.
They organized a food drive, picked up the food and delivered it to the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church in Albert Lea. (They collected an entire cart full.)
They left a coloring sheet of an Easter egg at each house on the block. Each house was to color it and then place it in a window to be seen from the street. This was a way to celebrate Easter while finding the eggs in neighbor’s windows.
Later in the week the neighborhood residents went on an Easter egg hunt to see how many eggs they counted in their search and find in the windows.
The boys even formed a Facebook group named ‘Burr Oak Neighbors Albert Lea MN.”
In talking to Dad Chris and Mom Erin Lowe, the only help the boys needed was to drive the car legally in delivering the food drive items to First Presbyterian Church.
The above-mentioned family activities are what make the Old Norwegian “Proud to be an American.”
The following are short shorts regarding Genie and me during the coronavirus epidemic:
A. We started our limited and or changed activities Monday March 16.
B. We’re staying up later and arising later.
C. We’re eating too much, too often, with the bathroom scale off limits.
D. We have a jigsaw puzzle going most of the time, with Scrabble being a replacement other times.
E. Our Sunday plus Easter service was at home in front of a TV channel 6 out of Austin, Minnesota.
F. We have one major outing per week. This week was the post office, Mayo pharmacy Albert Lea curbside pick up prescription renewals, Wendy’s Drive through food and to Big Island State Park to eat it, followed by a walk to the outdoor service location and around on the blacktop path for about a mile walk – then home. (We saw ducks, geese, pelicans, and one adult bald eagle on the nest.)
Other things we have noticed during the epidemic:
A. People are friendlier.
B. Price of gas is very low compared to a month ago.
C. There are a lot more kids in the neighborhood than we thought there were.
D. TV is on from our getting up to calling it a day with a lot more commercials. There are 6-8 commercials in a row and even sometimes ten in a row. Ford has a very haunting tune in their commercial.
E. Genie and I will be applying for a professional house sitters license as soon as the state license office is open. We most certainly qualify based on our coronavirus experience.
P.S. Regarding the virus in animals, the pig and her two piglets at the corner of Bridge Avenue and Hammer Road in Albert Lea are wearing facemasks as a precaution.
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.