Buffalo Gal

A couple of days ago I looked out at the sunshine-bathed deck on the south side of our home and saw………..a big gray squirrel cracking and eating the birds’ sunflower seeds. How can this be? thinks I….my kitty is out on the deck and surely she should chase that squirrel away. She WAS on the deck—cowering in a corner and eyeing the bushy tailed squirrel who was feasting and filling its belly on birdfood. I guess I can excuse her though..the squirrel looked as big as she is— so I suppose if I were in her furry place, I might also cower in a corner.
My BestFriend took care of things..he is a lot bigger than squirrels and he got a huge adrenaline rush and made the loudest noises and slapped the door glass so the squirrel made a speedy exit back to the trees. The squirrel got an equally big adrenaline rush also. I would swear I can see a trail of squirrel diarrhea all the way to the woods! I was not expecting the loud demonstration so I jumped about 6 inches myself. But I stayed in the house and did not run for the woods. The kitty wanted to come inside after the incident also.
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Buffalogal’s realclearpolitics moment of the day:

Yesterday Chuckie Schumer the senator from New York probably had an adrenaline rush when he suddenly found out that conference call reporters got in on what he thought were private instructions to other Democrats who were preparing to “discuss” the budget crisis in Congress. This is a classic case of sticking your foot in your mouth while shooting yourself in the foot” but Chuckie is so used to duplicity that it probably did not phase him one iota!!!! In fact all politicians in congress seemed to use this tactic: accusing each other of schemes and plots instead of getting down to doing the business of the nation that the Voters want them to do. It is sickening.
It makes me despair to know that BOTH parties of our national congress resort to these tactics instead of having honest and open discussions. Why can’t the Reps say things like “our nation is going down an economic rathole because of all the debt and deficit that both our parties are responsible for over many decades” and the Dems saying “No we want to continue pouring sand down a rathole and have no intention of cutting back on any of the spending we want to perpetuate”. Now that would be an open and honest admission by both parties. And both parties could so well to leave out the special interest groups when placing blame for the economic mess we are in. They–and several presidents both Dem and Rep have done it! They could also listen to sensible groups who have really good ideas for saving our economic and financial “bacon” and that includes other members of congress. After yesterday’s embarrassment the Dems gave the Reps a big gift without even trying, when they exposed their attempt to diss the budget agenda of the Opposition…and put blame on others than themselves. ” Beltway Fever” is getting to be fatal malady for the rest of us who do not exist in that rarified and dishonest atmosphere.
American citizens—the ordinary and sensible ones who realize what a predicament we are in—-will easily sift out the wheat from the chaff of this silly, inane conference call prelude where Chuckie Shumer “dropoped his pants” and a lot of others got to see the spectacle!!!!

I have been back and forth..out to the deck and back inside this morning. I have to put on a denim jacket because the air says “still kind of winter-y” but the SUN is saying “No–it IS Spring!” The sun climbs higher every day..OK… the sun does not move anywhere; it is the northern hemisphere of Earth that is tipping ever southward til June 21st. But the sun IS high in the sky now.
My knowledgeable son who knows these things, says that you can get natural Vitamin D by being in the sunshine each day now after March 1. This is not possible from late fall through the winter months but it is now! I go out and tip my face upward to the sun a few times each time inside in our winters…we need to get it now for the months we can!!!! So run outside and tip your faces upward! If you can stand it, put your bare arms or legs out in the sunshine as well.
My Kitty thinks it is spring. When I was out on the deck, I watched her take a little trip on the dry grass that has emerged in between still-melting snow drifts. It didn’t take long to see what she was up to. She prefers “doing business” outside and she was valiantly searching for just the right place.
She tried a few spots…in the grass…..in the snow but the snow was too hard..she even tried a garden spot where the soil is showing but the soil is hard too. I love to watch her “dig” her little cavities. With one front leg missing from her nasty accident (I would still like to get my hands on the one who shot her through her shoulder)…she still digs with the missing leg. I can see her shoulder muscles where the leg is gone…they are moving as she digs with the missing limb. Then she switches to the side where she still has a front leg. She seems puzzled by how long it takes to dig a hole. She has been digging with “both” her legs ever since one was amputated. It is kind of cute to watch her but I always think about the guy who shot her when I see her do it so I get upset and wish I could see him face to face and give him what he has coming to him….the dirty rat.

Other things say it is Spring too. A few days ago we saw a flock of snow geese resting on the Buffalo River. We see a lot of Canadian geese but snow geese…not that often. They were just beautiful and snowy white just like their name.
Now I am waiting for the first Sandhill Cranes to go overhead on their way to the northern nesting grounds for the summer. Their strange eerie cries as they ride the thermals is ever-fascinating to me. I wait for them each spring. But you have to be outside at the right time to catch the flights as they drift north on the winds…they are too big to do a lot of flying….therefore the thermal riding. I suppose the ground has to be warmed up to produce the thermals….at least I think so. Maybe someone can enlighten me on that.
The Buffalo River is saying “Spring” also. The flowing river is wide open and full..spilling out of its banks in some places near where we live. The “dead” Buffalo still looks pretty well frozen but it lacks the swift-flowing water and alot of it on our land is in heavy shade from the woods.
I heard birdsong this morning that was different from what I ususally hear. I wonder if a few “snowbirds” (the real kind) are coming back. Chickadees which live here all winter have such a variety of vocalizations that it could be them but I want it to be Bluebirds or Orioles or Cedar Waxwings but I know it is still to early for those birds. When I hear the wrens I will know that spring is truly here. Also a meadowlark’s song—there is not much that is more beautiful than hearing a meadowlark song. IF only I could hear a northern cardinal’s whistle but so far —no cardinals. I know cardinals populate a neighborhood in Detroit Lakes where a good friend lives but we have seen none from our wooded land.

I am beginning to think about spending time in my little cabin again; it will have to be just bit warmer but with the sun pouring through many windows on the south side it will not be much longer. I suppose I will have to get out there and sweep up or vacuum up the winter “collection” of the inevitable dead flies. I never see flies in there in the summertime but I see them in the spring—all over the floor. Oh well…sweeping and vacuuming is good excercise.

My tulip bed has not yet emerged from the big drifts over it. When I see the black soil appear, it will not be long before the little green shoots of tulips began to show. What a glorious time it is when the tulips bloom but it all depends on the heat and the moisture as to when they do. Every year has been different.

I am so glad that so many things in nature are already saying “Spring” even when the chilly air doesn’t feel like it is!!!

As if we don’t hear enough about wars, there is a new one being started…deliberately. The opening paragraph in a news story from POLITICO begins thusly:
“The liberal group Media Matters has quietly (?) transformed itself in preparation for what its founder, David Brock, described as an “all-out campaign of ‘guerilla warfare and sabotage’ aimed at the Fox news channel.”

MM’s original purpose was to have been a monitor for newspapers and other television networks but has now changed its “war plan” to zero in on only the newsites that are conservative. Interesting. If you cannot beat them (in ratings) then do all you can to destroy them. I wonder what the founders of American journalism would say about that?
Media Matters views FOX and a handful of other sites as the nerve center of the conservative movement.
Another quote from POLITICO:
“Media Matters said it is assembling opposition research files not only on Fox’s top executives but on a series of midlevel officials. It has hired an activitist who has led a successful campaign to press advertisers to to avoid Glenn Beck’s show. The group is assembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with FOX news to file lawsuits (ah-ha..the old liberal stand-by) for defamation,invasion of privacy or other causes…..Brock said Media Matters also plans to run a broad campaign against FOX’s parent company News Corp. an effort which most likely will involve opening to attack the company’s interests there.” Haven’t we seen these tactics by liberals many times already….in political campaigns…and one unsucessful attempt to degrade FOX has already failed miserably even though it was launched by President Obomber and his administration? I predict total failure again. NORMAL people do not respond to such low classless outrageous attacks on perceived “enemies”. There will be plenthy of falllout and repercussions for Media Matters. They mightjust as well shoot themselves in their feet right now and get it over with.

The entire article is “Media Matters war against FOX” by Ben Smith in Politico, March 26, 20)11.

It is amazing what leftist liberals are willing to do to revenge themselves of a news outlet that has kicked all the competition in every ratings period for a LONG time. Instead of doing what it can to win viewers(fairly, by providing progamming that attracts viewers) —- away from a rival outlet, they stoop to what they call “war” against a cable news channel which has won their audience by the content of thier programs…it is simple..it is marketing and winning the battle on that level without resorting to the dirty tactics that Media Matters is about to launch. Of course this war is being funded by old Deep Pockets George Soros. Is there anything liberal that he won’t fund? NPR does not need public fund because of Soros but they will still fight to get it.
One thing that may have tipped the anger factor at Media Matters was a skit on late night “RedEye” on FOXnews which had a skit that conducted a mock interview with a Media Matters employee. The skit is in the article. And it is funny!!!

Paul Levinson, a media studies professor at Fordham University says that FOX is happy about the “war” on it.
Levinson said “One way of keeping your core supporters happy is to be attacked by people your core supporters don’t like”

According to all the cable news rating figures, FOX does not need to be concerned by this strange behavior of Media Matters.
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AUTOPSY ON KNUT THE POLAR BEAR
The autopsy on the the German zoo’s star attraction showed a brain abnormality in the bear….he suffered from an epileptic seizure which led to his death. Knut inherited this from his father who also suffered from epilepsy, according to authorities who investigated Knut’s sudden death in front of a huge crowd at the zoo who were horrified.
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In another evil “war”……….
Another shocking read: “The Scandal of Gendercide: War on Baby Girls” by Albert Mohler, at albertmohler.com

More things I have read today (Monday) that I would like to share with the “birds of a feather who flock together”

Google: realclearpolitics and read the first four articles listed about Libya. There is plenty of other good news on RCP also! Plus an editorial section.
Others that made my day.

1. “Here we go again” by Gary Johnson in the DC Caller for 28 Mr. 2011

2. “A Small Businessman’s Plea to Obama…” DCCaller 28 Mar. 2011.

3. (this one will make you laugh out loud) “Media Skeletons In Biden’s Closet?” by Chris Moody in DC Calller 28 March 2011.

Okay, time for an admission: the winter of feeding birds has made Buffalogal a little addled..bird brained, if you will!
I have named two pairs of visitors to the bird food.
Homer and Jethro are largely unwelcome but in the deep of winter I kind of felt sorry for them..why… I cannot fathom since crows are perfectly suited for taking care of themselves at any time. But I noticed a pair of them dropping down to where I have scattered ground food near the row of spruce trees in our yard. So instead of letting them eat all the small bird food I followed a suggestion from BIRDS and BLOOMS and got a bag of cheap cat food. Homer and Jethro love it…and so do their cousins,the bluejays. Yesterday morning..(Sunday) when I went outside the crows and the jays were having a calling contest by the spruces….CAW CAW CAW!!!! SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM!!!!
They kept it up for quite awhile.
And then there are Desi and Luci, the pair of Pileated Woodpeckers who have become comfortable at the deck buffet of suet. I have been very generous to the suet lovers. I have made and filled a bread pan with home made suet in addition to giving them suet from Fleet Farm. The woodpeckers all love it.
The Pileateds have brilliant red caps of fine feathers on their heads…it is the only truly pretty thing about them…they are truly prehistoric monster-looking other than their fine red feather head plumage. So Luci is the female (she has a black stripe on her face) and Desi (he has a red stripe in the same place.) Desi really stands for “DESI-gnated male red-head). The real Luci(Lucille Ball) had brilliant red hair, thanks to hair salon red hair dye. The Pileateds are GENUINE red heads.
It is getting near to the end of hard-core bird feeding. Soon the birds will be able to find and feast on wild food in our woods and fields. I do plan to get some live mealworms when I put up my bluebird house. I will put out my grape jelly and orange slice dish for the Orioles. I will keep niger seed feeders our to attract gold and purple finches and redpolls all summer. But the main thurst of bird feeding is almost over. It has been one of the most delightful things ever…I will be feeding winter birds as long as I am able to do it.

ANARCHISTS NOT DONE IN BRITAIN—YET: This morning’s ” UK Telegraph” is full of news about the Anarchists’ plans to attack on the day of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29. After this past Saturday’s demonstrations/riots in London the Brits might have to withdraw their troops from around the world and bring them back to London to defend the Royal Wedding. Saturday’s demonstration brought set fires, store window breakage, looting, and other sorts of typical anarchist-inspired damage and mayhem. The ruination of the Royal Wedding Day would be the ultimate insult.
Two articles I read in the “Telegraph” this morning: 1. “Anarchists Target Royal Wedding” UK Telegraph, 28 March 2011

The other article discussed the weekend “Stag” of Prince William and 20 carefully chosen friends at an undisclosed (and un-crashed) “stag”..the British version of the American Bachelor Party that is the male party for the Groom. This article… also in the Telegraph…. tells of past Royal Stags including one for Peter Phillips (Princess Anne’s son) at which he drank “pints and pints and dropped his pants”. The staid and stolid Brits must be only a myth. I suppose “pints and pints” can loosen anyone’s stiff upper lip.
2. “Prince William Slips Off For A Secret Country Stag” by Steven Swinford in UK Telegraph.

One American “stag” that stays in my mind forever is one where the Groom was killed after crashing his sporfts car into a tree after his Bachelor Party. Instead of a Wedding there was a Funeral and it was horrible for everyone involved (a whole community). Thankfully not one of my sons indulged in such a pre wedding stag. What a great relief.
Prince William did make it through his Stag; the report includes his arrival after the weekend back at St. James Palace in London. The piece also reports that both Royal Brothers..William and Harry…have royal duty committements today (Monday). Prince Harry , the real Party Boy of his generation was the host and organizer of Will’s stag party.
It must be hard to go out and meet the Peons and conduct royal business with bad hangover.

THE SUN IS SHINING but the air is COLD again. What these days will mean for the anticipated flood in the RR valley is yet to ber seen. The melt and any added precipitation will be the crucial factors. The RR flood affects me not at all unless I count the encroaching water into one of our meadows from and overflowing Buffalo River which emtpies into the Red. Our high hill makes us onlookers only.
I heard a really long and windy RANT from KFGO radio host Joel Heitakamp a few minutes ago. He went bonkers over the lack of cooperation by MN over the Diversion plans. The beginning of the floods was when people built towns and cities on flood plains in the first place. There is no going back from that bad decision now. But it is the truth—–building beside rivers and in flood plains is never a brilliant idea but in the pioneer times river travel was the only option before the railroads were built. It is an unfortunate choice for every river town and city in the entire nation.

IT IS TIME to check on the various bird buffets. Homer and Jethro and Luci and Desi will love me!!!!

Rodney Nelson is called a cowboy poet and humorist. He lives on his ranch near Almont ND and he is first and foremost cattle rancher. He writes a column for the “Farm and Ranch Guide” a publication that comes out every two weeks (I think) My husband subscribes to it and reads it cover to cover. Today he showed me Rodney Nelson’s column which was titled
“Treating the Missus to a bull sale for her birthday”.

Now that is about the same level as getting a manure spreader for Mothers’ Day so I really was interested in reading this one.
Nelson has subtle humor. He began by confessing to waking up on his wife’s birthday (which he had forgotten until that moment and he had “not gotten a present,not baked a birthday cake, didn’t even have a card.”
So he promised her that after today (the real birthday) when he finished up a lot of work he had to do, he would take her to Bismarck for lunch “and would even give her a littlle time to shop at the thrift store.” What a great guy? Any woman would wish he was her husband,huh???
It turned out that Rodney found out there was a bull sale the next day in Bismarck and he wanted to go and bid on a new bull. He also realized that there would be a really good free lunch at the sale so things were looking better and better for his wife’s birthday celebration.
He put it this way: “In all these years I had never taken the Missus to a bull sale, so I was confident she would appreciate the excitement.” Uh-Huh.

So the Missus went to the bull sale with Rodney and celebrated her birthday by eating a free “exemplary lunch” at the bull ring and sitting in the bleachers watching the bulls brought in as the Ranchers bid on them. I bet the scent was excruciatingly…….exciting in that bull ring sale area. I have actually been to the bull sale in Mandan once and it was..fragrant to say the most about the least.
Rodney did buy a bull that day ..he called it a less than average bull..after watching the first bull in the ring go for $6000 dollars. Rodney figured his less than average bull (cheap) would do a good job with the old cows.
When the bull sale was over the Missus got a half hour to shop the thrift store and Rodney claims he sneaked over to another store and bought her a present “she will love for years” but he didn’t say what it was. I hope it wasn’t a brand new shiny calf-puller. A toaster or a crockpot would seen like a heaven- sent present compared to a new calf puller.
Or a new holding pen for when she would help with the “A-I -ing”

Rodney concluded his piece of cowboy humor by recounting the trip home with the new bull in the trailer.

“We were soon heading home with the new bull. I explained several times that the cull bulls we had to sell would come close to paying for the new one. She enjoyed the coke I bought her for the ride home and she was quite relaxed when we got here.”

Like I said already….what guy!!!!

I was determined to keep it light today but I can’t after reading an afternoon edition of my major links site.
The headline says “Anarchy in Britain” and several articles in UK news outlets detail a supposed-to be peaceful march by UK citizens protesting government cuts to many programs they have gotten used to having. Every European nation (and our own) are finding out that having a multitude of social programs is causing the treasuries to emtpy because the outgo is far more than the income. Socialist governments knew that secret long ago but didn’t tell the truth about that problem.
When I was IRONING (I actually ironed somethings today because of plans to travel in April) I watched a John Stossel special called “Freeloaders” and when I read the UK papers about what happened in London today I thought about the Freeloaders I had seen Stossel report on. The Brits who went wild today are really types of “freeloaders” because government social programs require little or nothing from the recipients and people get to feel “entitled”…a word Stossel used to describe the Freeloaders in our culture…the folks who hold signs that say things like “Homeless…I am hungry…anything will help..God Bless” and brown cardboard signs like we have seen on corners and at intersections. One panhandler in Utah was not homeless but lived in a nice house about one block from where she panhandled every day often getting well over 100 dollars each day from passersby. The Brits who are rioting are like that woman..most of them have it good…. thanks to socialistic government programs for decades and now they are going bonkers at the thought of not getting their freeloaders’ “benefits”.

It is pretty pathetic when you think about it seriously. Those folks we see on the corners with the brown cardboard sign are making a good killing also…and they are usually not either hungry or homeless..they get picked up at the end of the day by big nice new vans that take them to where the group of con artists either live or hang out..often at bars and gambling joints where they spend the money that they have bamboozled from people who felt sorry for them.

Google: “Anarchists blitz the Ritz and occupy Fortnum and Mason…” UK Daily Mail online, 26 March 2011.

It is my Dad’s birthday today…he was born on March 26 1905 and lived til 1991. He would be horrifed by the panhandlers and the crowds of complainers in London..or anywhere else. He worked hard and pulled his own wagon his whole life. He would have been ashamed to take social program funds from taxpayers…even if he needed it badly.
But those folks in his generation are all gone now..nearly. And the entitlement attitude is strong and alive and well in our culture.

I just heard the news about the death this morning of Geraldine Ferraro. I felt sad because I have always liked her. I did not agree with her political views but she was a kind, condiderate, thoughtful and intelligent woman. I have enjoyed her commentaries on the FOX news channel for the years she has contributed. She was a Democrat of the old stripe…..the loyal opposition but never harsh or edgy or snide about her political opposites. She was a real lady as far as her politics went and that is a characteristic badly missing in many of the women pols today. They have become most unpleasant and agressive and greedy as far as spending taxpayers money on themselves…Nancy Pelosi comes to mind. What a contrast to Geraldine Ferraro! Geraldine Ferraro was in a class all her own! She had far more important issues with which she was concerned than if she looked like she was 35—or tried to look that way.

She had no time for botox, facelifts or hair dye. She was who she was, and she looked her age, and had no time for self-serving “treatments” to try to make herself look younger. I truly admired that quality. Her clothing,hair style and makeup were not that important to her; she always looked so dignified.
She was well matched with Minnesota’s Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential campaign. He had the same unpretentiousness as Ferraro. I admire both of them a lot.
I am sorry for her family and for the illness she has gone through. She was, primarily a wife and mom and grandmother. She did a lot of good for her state and nation but her family was her first priority. And all of them loved her much and will miss her terribly.
Hers is a great loss for graciousness in American politics of any Party.

Being a news junkie can have consequences…sometimes after looking at all the news links I use can lead to “brain-sieze-up”..almost. I looked at my links this morning and saw alarms going off about Japan’s nuclear disaster steadily moving toward a worse disaster; the speculation by a Brit official that leaving Ghadaffi in power can lead to another “Lockerbie”…saw pictures and articles of Sri Lankan Muslims stomping on an Obama effigy…..I went for the relaxing stuff.
Its is more pleasant today to read about a flotilla of yellow rubber ducks being stolen from the Yorkville, Illinois police station. I truly enjoyed it and did not get worked up reading about “Einstein” the world’s smallest stallion (no relative of Sylvester Stallone by the way); and a Montana store offering a rather strange deal for those who buy a satellite hook-up (Only in Hamilton,Montana could it be possible!)

Google for your relaxation and pure enjoyment:

1. “Something fowl in Yorkville: 2,500 rubber ducks stolen” (WGNtv.com, Chicago )

2.”My REALLY Little Pony: Einstein the world’s smallest stallion…”(Daily Mail online 3-26-11)

3. “Montana Store Offers Bang-Up Satellite TV Promo”
(DCCaller, 3-26-11

It is getting lighter in the morning now! Maybe I can quit stewing about DST for Apr-May-June-July but I will go back to fretting come Aug and Sept when it starts getting darker both morning and evening. I am so connected to bright LIGHT in the skies!!!!

IRRESISTIBLE ADDITION ! (speaking of light!!) “Bulb Act Will Restore Incandescent Light Bulbs” Mike Enzi in “Human Events” March 26-2011

I hope this passes with ease in both houses of congress! The comments on the article at the end are also “irresistible”!!!

Today’s essay in the Wall Street Journal is recommended reading for all who are disturbed by our sudden and seemingless un-thought-out attacks in Libya…for reasons that as are clear as a roiled-up mud puddle. Peggy Noonan, in a thoughtful essay, askes many of the questions that millions of Americans have already asked themselves and others.

Google: “The speech Obama hasn’t given” P. Noonan in WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 24, 2011.

Excerpts from that essay: “It all seems rather mad, doesn’t it? The decision to become militarily involved in the Libyan civil war couldn’t take place in a less hospitable context. The U.S. is reeling from spending and deficits, we’re already in two wars, our military is stretched to the limit, we’re restive at home and no one really, sees President Obama as the kind of leader you’d follow over the top. ‘This way men!’ ‘No, I think I’ll stay in the trench.’ People didn’t hire him to start battles but to end them…..”

And one more: “…the central initiative of his presidency, the one that gave shape to his leadership, health care, is still unpopular and the cause of continued agitation. When he devoted his entire first year to it, he seemed off point and out of touch…Now he seems incompetent and out of depth in foreign and military affairs….what was he thinking? What IS he thinking?”
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BIRTHDAY DINNER…Last night we took our grand daughter who attends MSUM out for dinner. We also invited her cousin who is exactly the same age…both of them are now 19 years old. They were born 4 months apart in 1991 and 1992 and have been best friends and buddies since they were old enough to play together. I can still see the two -year old Adam holding out his arms as he exclaimed “Th-iri! Merete!” hugging his two girl cousins when they came to his home in Fargo. We have always called the three of them “the big kids” because they were the first 3 of 8 grandchidlren.
As grandparents we held their tiny hands for awhile and now they have grown up into wonderful adults we cherish and love to spend time with! We had such a nice dinner together before all 4 of us had to get on to other things….studying, shopping, going to a Bible study Our times with our adult grandkids are so precious. And now there are no more “tiny hands” to hold. The time will come when they will visit us and hold our hands…at a time when both of us have almost lived out our lives. All of us experience that if we live into our 7th or 8th or 9th decades…if we should be so blessed!!!
BIRDS AND (grrrrrrrrr…) SQUIRRELS
My first winter a a feeder of birds is nearly over. The woodpeckers…Downies, Hairies and the big Pileateds–still come to the suet feeder and provide a lot of interesting “watching” out on the deck. The chickadees are still interested in the sunflower seeds and the many kinds of sparrows and the juncos are eating off the ground from what I spread for them. The bluejays are eating the cheap catfood I put out after reading about its use in BIRDS AND BLOOMS. The two crows..whom I am not fond of but have named “Homer and Jethro” eat the catfood too I think. Crows are so wary that if I even open a door they hear it and fly, cawing loudly and harshly, back into the woods. I really do not want nesting crows too near but what difference will it make..in the summer they will still maraud the song bird nests and babies and eggs. They might be intellient birds but they are bullies and are mean to other birds…although in bird-dom it is called the survival of the fittest or the food chain or something to that effect. Gray and red squirrels have bedeviled me with their abilty to get at the sunflower feeders. I think about the time our grandson Al was about 4 years old and had gotten a toy water cannon. He was at his other grandparents’ home in West Fargo and was out by a row of trees with his water gun. “Gramma!” he shouted to me when I came to get him…”I “skwooted some sku-wells!” I would like him to come and “skwoot” the squirrels that are eating all the sunflower seeds out of a feeder!!!!! I am ready to learn how to shoot a .22 caliber rifle.
It is almost time to shut down the bird buffets altho I just put our niger seed socks to get some finches back. Soon we will put up a bluebird house and put out oranges and grape jelly in hopes that orioles will come to a summer bird buffet. I have also seen purple finches come to an orange and grape jelly dish as well.
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WHERE DOES GREASE GO?
It goes to Long Prairie,MN. I have been out and about today to do some necessary shopping before we go on a vacation in April. I stopped to get a chicken salad at one of the fast-fooderies and when I was eating by a big window I saw a large truck with a big back end come into the drive and the truck’s logo said “Midwest Grease..Long Prairie, MN”. The big back end looked like it had several HUGE dumpsters on it…probably grease containers. I have never thought about where the “old” grease from friers at restaurants goes but today I think I learned where. I wonder what they do with it??? Recycle it for use in hair pomades???? Put it into car engines for lubrication???
Send it to outdoor barbecue pits???? I hope they do not dump it into a big hole in the ground or people who live close to the hole might find congealed fat floating on their glass of drinking water. ARGH! What a thought.
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RED ORANGE YELLOW No this is not a lesson in the color spectrum…it is what I saw on the way home on hiway 10 today. I nearly go off the hiway trying to see if some wild “flame orange” willows are bright orange for spring…and they are!!! Beautiful! The many patches of wild dogwood are getting their spring bright red on again. More beautiful!
One variety of wild willows is turning bright yellow….Hurray…and Beautiful also! There is one field east of Mhd along I-94 that I always think of as “Lake Beetfield”. It has water in it like a shallow lake now (frozen over) and anytime in the summer when we have significant rain. Also along I-94 in Fargo between the river and the cemetery by the river (south of the road) I saw deer walking yesterday on the groomed paved paths of the cemetery. Where do the river deer go when it floods? Into the Fargo neighborhoods? Today there was a flock of wild turkeys in that cemetery. There must be food in that cemetery…..tasty flower pods or bushes that have nutrition in them.
The deer look hungry and thin after a bad winter when so much wild feed is covered by snow. I am so soft hearted about tame and wild animals that I feel like draining my checking account and buying all kinds of good livestock feed for the deer–especially the does that are carrying fawns who need strength and energy now.

I am ready to kick back in the recliner with my third Erin Hart novel—-FALSE MERMAID. This is set in St. Paul as Nora Gavin comes home to solve her sister’s murder of 5 years ago…Nora KNOWS her sister’s husband did it but he has gotten away with it…and now another murder victim (skeletonized) has been found by a Cambodian refugee fisherman in Hidden Falls Park by the Mississippi River. The story is so real I am mesmerized by all the twists and turns Hart has put into her novel. MN can be proud of another good author!!!! Erin Hart is a St. Paul native.