Friday, July 28, 2006

It's a dry world after all

Friday I took a vacation day from work. Sick to stomach anyway and depressed. Good to be off of work, but sleeping the afternoon away did not help depression matters.

The weirdest thing happened. I have been glued to the television, as always, and these commercials about "Who does depression really hurt?" come on all the time. ("As if depressed people need something else to worry about", I keep thinking to myself resentfully. )

One of the scenes of the commercial has a Weimaraner at the door with a ball in his mouth, waiting - to imply that the owner is depressed and not playing with his/her canine buddy. Tug at heartstrings for me (forget about the neglected kid or spouse!).

Anyway, the power of the tube must be working a little, because yesterday, in the midst of a horrendous depressive episode(mmmmmmmmmmmmmm-Menopause is soooooooooooooo much fun!), I promised Baci that I would take him swimming today and I would throw the ball for him. Well, all day today he kept glancing at me, and that Weimaraner kept coming into my head, so I put on my green grape suit and a T-shirt and we headed out to the dock. I haven't been out there since May (so GLAD I pay taxes to live on a lake!) and I hadn't noticed how low the water was. When I moved here in the summer of 2002, the water came past the beginning of the dock and in fact there was a giant walleye who had a nest under the left end of the dock. Now the sand down there is hardly even moist and the grass on either side of the dock is hip high. I have been hearing that we have a drought in the Northwoods, but it's hard to believe when we had as much snow as we did and all the rain we have been having lately. It just floored me.

ANYWAY.......

I took Baci out to swim and took my new Chuck-It with us with us and threw it over and over - we must have stayed out there throwing and swimming for about a half hour always heard the secret to keeping a dog interested (as if Baci weren't the most observant and interested dog in my house right now) is to stop training when he is still anticipating fun. I stopped after a half hour and he still wanted to go after another ball. And he's 9 years old! And hasn't exercised in months! Tomorrow I will take his brother out (Dulse, his bro, is currently sulking with his back to me right now,sighing heavily every one in a while. I don't think he has the power of mind control that Baci has, though!

Baci has not looked as content in a long time as he has all evening.

Monday, July 17, 2006

A Tree Falls in Minocqlyn

So there are drawbacks to being a semi-recluse, I discovered this weekend.

We had a huge, cracking thunderstorm Friday before I left for work, so bad that my big "tough" dogs lept on the bed with me ("huh? what's that NOISE? Woof.") The brave one, Baci, actually started "growling back" at the storm as it moved off. But I was surprised and pleased that the electricity stayed on without interruption and nothing seemed to be amiss as I got ready for work, put the dogs out, and took off down the road to work.

It was really hot on Friday and was due to be even hotter on Saturday, and, since I don't go into town after Thursday (because of the t(err)ourists), generally, I was all set up for the weekend with dvds and soda and food and such. I had also been battling the summer cold from hell and was determined to not have one minute of discomfort all Saturday. So I hermetically sealed myself inside the house with the a/c blasting (for the dogs of course!) and watched old "Degrassi Junior High" dvds.

A great day. Then came Sunday, which was just as hot, but in which I had to get the garbage out to the end of the driveway and go into town to get an a/c filter and other stuff. So Sunday morning, I walked out to the driveway and saw, behind my truck and my car, that a HUGE White Pine had come down on the driveway and taken a birch and a couple of aspens with it. It was so massive - as big as a moving van – that at first I didn't know what to think. I moved some miscellaneous branches out of the way so I could get the garbage bin by, then when I came back, I moved other branches so I could get my little car out.

I wasn't sure what had happened. I looked up about four stories high and saw that what was on my driveway was the top of a huge tree that had either been hit by lightning or been blown off by the wind the day before. The exposed pith where it had come off was a scar as big as a large man. I was just astounded that something this big and seemingly sturdy had been cut down in its prime by nature. We think of nature as only taking the weak, as culling the unhealthy from the herd or forest or population, but this was proof positive that this was not the case. I couldn't look at the downed tree anymore because it was actually making me extremely sad.

Even on Monday, when I got back from work, after I had arranged to have the tree cut up and hauled away at the end of the week, I was floored at what a waste of beauty this was. On Sunday the needles were still sprung out like it was drinking up the sun, and pulling up nutrition from its trunk. By Monday evening the needles were already wilting, closing like a person's dying hands, as if it had given up hope. Or accepted its fate. It was still very hard to look at this fallen mastadon of the forest. I took a small branch from it to put in my living room.

I can't wait until my chainsaw-wielding friend comes this weekend, cuts it up into manageable pieces. and hauls it away to use in his outdoor wood burner. It will be comforting to know that it is helping heat humans this coming winter.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Wild nights are calling

Loony bin
For the past week, about 7:30 in the evenings,I hear the loons calling each other. Last week there appeared to be some altercation between these birds with some terrible noises coming from the lake. When I asked the rehab director about it, he said that the males may be fighting for territory and that would mean that a male coming in to take over would kill the other males chicks and it would not be unusual for the two males to fight to the death. I haven't heard the screaming since that night,but the winning loon reminds me every night who's boss.

A day in the life
Didn't get to do much at the NWC this weekend. Fed some baby birds, which is always rewarding and scary (I'm not very good at making sure they get all the mealworms they need.) And I set up an aquatic cage for a blue heron juvenile who just looked plain scared. We set out a lot of buckets with branches in them so he will have plenty of places to hide out.

We also got another bald eagle in with a luxated shoulder, although this one was given some steroids and put in a cage in case he might recover some ability to fly.
Weekend at Barbie's
I had a guest this weekend who gave me a huge surprise for my 50th. Little reminders of what has gone on since we have known each other (nearly a quarter of a century!) like a composition book from the university of Minnesota, a toy teller tray to remind us both of where we met and where we never want to return to and a nice card with a generous contribution to the Humane Society of America (not George's"Human Fund"!) It was a wonderful gesture and made me feel good.

Let them eat baguette
I fought the t(err)ourist battle at the grocery store this weekend because I wanted to make this fantastic Italian bread salad that called for an entire good baguette. I grabbed the baguette out of the bin and it was so fresh that it was still warm from the oven. After a half hour in line, I went home. I got everything and put it away and stupidly left the dogs out while I went to change. I came out not two minutes later and the only thing left of the baguette was the little cellophane window on the package. I told the dogs that it was a good thing I don't believe in beating animals. They looked at my from the corners of their eyes all night. NO DINNER FOR YOU!

The rest of the weekend went rather smoothly.

I am kind of tired today because I am under the weather and from now until the beginning of September we can be called into my fave place, the "w(ho)arehouse" at any time.