Greetings, Folks!

Remember when Bugs Bunny was being pursued by the hunter? And then he gets caught in order to make Hasenpfeffer? Didn’t he even help out and stir the stew a little while  talking—he was always talking—- before he asked what the main ingredient was? And then he finds out that HE is the main ingredient and freaks out?

Makes me smile remembering that.

And yet the term “Hasenpfeffer” has come to mind lately and not been as enjoyable. Why? Because lately the fat rabbit that bit off my tulips has been purposefully looking in the windows while he chews on my plants.

Daring me. Challenging me to do something about it.

I did shake black pepper all over the garden, but then it kept raining so it wasn’t effective. Hmmmm. Better get out there today and shake, shake, shake it off, shake it off.

I do find myself thinking about Hasenpfeffer in an Elmer Fudd voice.

And then that makes me remember when the hubster was skinning the rabbit in the kitchen in the house in the country. I can hear him laughing as he calls me into the kitchen. I walk in and he has the skinned rabbit’s fore legs in one hand, back legs in the other and is making him hop across the counter as he says, “Hippity, hoppety, hop, hop!”

AHAHAHAHAHA!!! Good times. Great memories.

This reminds me—yes, this is an official transition—- of camping.  We have had many, many camping trips worthy of posting. But this particular one was in May, so I think about it early in the season.   It was the first time we went out with our brand new backpack camping equipment.  The hill to get to the site was so steep I was crawling on all fours, not quite accustomed to the heavy pack yet. It rained all weekend and not having the screen tent yet, we sat at the picnic table in our rain suits. The kids were teenagers and completely thrilled as you can imagine. I ended up with a bladder infection and the shortcut to the outhouses had poison ivy and a couple of snakes’ nests. I remember being happy about going back to work!!

It’s a wonder that we ever went out again.

But, of course, we did. To an island in Lake Superior. You know, the big cold lake. Yep. We went for the weekend, but only had a site secured for one night. We would camp “back country” for the other night.

For those of you who are new to back country camping, you have to be so many feet off the trail, out of sight of people hiking by.

And everybody in your party carries their own small shovel as a bathroom necessity.

Uh hunh.

We were so far off the trail that the clearing was only big enough for the two small backpack tents. It was dark, damp, and thick with mosquitoes. It looked like I imagined the jungles of Vietnam looked to the GI’s during the war.

My mantra while I was negotiating the terrain was “I need a bigger diamond. I need a bigger diamond.”

Oh yes. Good times.

Strangely, we kept going back to that island, one of the Apostles, and finally figured out how to backpack camp. We have our favorite camping memories from there and hope to return someday. The new knee will help.

So will the weight loss. I am on Medifast and have officially lost a chunk of weight. I still have a ways to go before I reach my goal in mid August. The hubster lost 70 pounds in six months through sheer will and determination, and is now hiking. I need to catch up with him!  🙂

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“Do you know what a Mashe Niblick is?”  That was one of the trivia questions on my favorite radio program out of Grand Marais a week or so ago. And I knew! When I first started golfing, I went out with my dad and he told me. It’s the name of a golf club, the kind you swing on the course. I laughed at the silly sounding name then, but it got me the trivia answer that night! Thanks, Dad!

And here’s a bit of trivia about my dad: he used to be one of the men called when there was a drifter from the Training School. For those of you who did not grow up in Red Wing, the Training School was a reformatory for the 12 to 18 year old boys who were too young to go to the prison in St. Cloud.  When we were growing up there was no fence around the grounds of the Training School which was and still is located on the south end of town.  Beautiful grounds. Nestled up against the hills. No fence.

Well, as I said earlier, my dad was one of the people who would get called in the middle of the night to walk the train tracks looking for the drifter. It was one of his side jobs, like taking census or working at the tannery the summer before I was born.

He was good at it, so good that he could recognize a drifter by his footsteps.

It happened that my parents’ bedroom was at the front of the house just above the sidewalk on West Fourth Street. Dad was awakened by a pattern of footsteps that didn’t fit the neighborhood. I suppose there was some heel scuffing, perhaps from some boots. He woke my mom, told her where he was going, put his pants and a jacket on over his pajamas and followed the sound. He followed the kid long enough to determine that he was a drifter and brought him in.

Amazing! And all that from the sound of the kid’s footsteps.

You know, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Our parents did amazing things.

My mom was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse when she first started teaching. A few kids had sores around their mouths. She knew this was impetigo and discovered that it was spreading because the kids were all using the same dipper for water in the bucket.  She sent home a note to have each kid bring a cup from home. They could then use the dipper to fill their own cup and the impetigo disappeared.

And I’ll bet they all loved her!

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This is a photo I took today of a turkey on the campus of Hennepin Tech at the corner of 169 and Brooklyn Blvd.  There were several turkeys on the grounds, strutting and fanning their tail feathers. I’ve seen turkeys before, just not so close to people. They looked like they could give the Canadian geese a run for their money!

 

And here is my new nighttime gleeve. All in one piece. With no bandages. I love it. And the label has my name on it! WooHoo! Celebrity!

I am keeping some of the bandages because although the gleeve can be dried in the dryer—takes about two hours—- the gleeve covering has to be hand washed and dried flat. And so far it has taken longer than one day to dry.

Not to worry, I have my best people on it: of course, the hubster! If anyone can figure out a structure to keep airflow going through the tube and still not stretch, tear, or snag it, he can!!!

I so wish you could have seen Katya the other day. I heard Buffy screech and I came running. Buffy passed me going the other way and seemed fine, so I continued, thinking perhaps the screech came from Katya. As I rounded the corner, there was Katya, the little gray kitty, with a fluff of orange hair in her mouth. She was a deer in the headlights for just a second before she realized she needed to get rid of the evidence and started to spit out the fur formerly known as Buffy’s.

It was hilarious!

Well, that’s today’s news. Have a mahvelus Monday and an even more Terrific Tuesday!

Love,

Janet