The pencil points to toad poop. American Toads are incredible creatures in other ways, too.
By Al Batt for the Caledonia Argus
For the Birds
Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting
When I was a kid, there were always a couple of never-going-to-run-again junker cars in our yard.
Did that bother you?
You bet. Most of the neighbors had twice as many.
Driving by Bruce’s drive
I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: When I was a dear boy, parents told their children, “I told you to go before we left home, but go if you can’t wait. But don’t touch anything.”
It took strength, courage and a flashlight to use a gas station bathroom in those dark days. They were grotesque things with overflowing toilets, locked doors to keep in the overpowering smell and a key attached to an anvil the size of a Gopher linebacker. It was impossible not to touch something.
My father drove up to visit me when I lived in Minneapolis — once. He was just as proud of how few miles he had on a car as he was of how many one carried. He was more attuned to driving on gravel roads than in the big city.
He told me that traffic had been backed up for miles and every car was honking. I learned later that all those vehicles had been behind him. He was a stranger in a strange land.
Thoughts while trying not to touch my face
Why does patience take so long?
“There are a lot of weird people here,” thinks everyone shopping in a store.
A clean desk is a sign of full desk drawers.
Nature notes
A deer’s coat provides thermoregulation and camouflage. Summer coats are reddish and thin, allowing deer to cope with heat stress. Hormonal changes turn that coat into a two-layered, faded gray or brown winter coat with hollow and stiff, outer guard hairs. The inner layer is soft and dense, equipping the animal with insulation. Coat color tends to be darker in forested areas and lighter in agricultural lands.
“You carrot chompin’, flop-eared, bob-tailed rabbit! I hope your innards turn to outards and your ears go visey-versey! I hates rabbits!” Yosemite Sam said that. I wonder if he had a garden? I don’t hate them, but I yell at the rabbits. I’m unable to wave them away.
Milkweed and wild parsnip bloom. Wild parsnip was brought to North America by European settlers and grown as a root vegetable.
It escaped from cultivation and is now common throughout the U.S. It grows 4-6 feet tall with compound leaves arranged in pairs, with sharply toothed leaflets that are shaped like mittens. Yellowish green flowers form umbrella-shaped clusters.
Umbels are 2-6 inches wide and contain many small, five-petaled flowers that bloom from June through August. Wild parsnip is highly invasive and replaces native plant habitat. Its sap contains toxic chemicals activated by sunlight and can cause serious burns and blisters to skin after contact.
A catbird tossed out a bunch of random notes it had slapped together. It sounded as if the bird had a good attitude. Red-winged blackbirds, song sparrows, indigo buntings, red-eyed vireos (singing “Here I am, where are you?” repeatedly) and common yellowthroats all still sing. The yellowthroat’s is a galloping tune and I heard a bobolink sounding like R2-D2 over-caffeinated. Birdsong is a sign of normalcy.
If I’d have named the characters on “Gunsmoke,” Marshal Dillon would have been Marshal Peregrine, Miss Kitty would have been called Miss Daylily (I’m not sure why), and Festus would have been Festus.
Ask Al
“What is a large flock of crows called?” Velcrows. They stick together.
“What do you call someone who has lived in your small hometown for 50 years?” A tourist.
“What bird puts in the longest days?” The cuckoo. It works around the clock.
In local news
The mystery book section disappeared from library. Police have no leads.
Grilled chicken admits to crime.
The Lazy Man’s Gym specializes in the diddlysquat.
Man surprised to learn that he’s color blind. The diagnosis came like a bolt out of the yellow.
Q&A
“My grandmother told me peonies need ants to bloom. True?” That’s an oft-repeated myth. The relationship between peonies and ants is a type of mutualism in which peony flowers provide food for ants and in turn, ants protect the plants from harmful insects. Peony nectaries secrete nectar composed of sugars, amino acids, lipids, and other organic compounds that are a food source for ants.
“How many bald eagles live a year?” The first year of a fledged eagle’s life is perilous with the mortality rate of eaglets during that period being over 50%.
“How do ants find food?” A scout ant searches for food by walking randomly until it finds some. It takes a tiny piece of the eats back to the nest, leaving a trail of a scent-emanating pheromones for other ants to follow.
I wonder
Most injuries in the home happen in the bathroom. Would we be safer in an outhouse?
Why are bad commercials the most memorable?
When did we start pulling pork apart?
Thanks for stopping by
“I meant to do my work today — but a brown bird sang in the apple tree and a butterfly flitted across the field, and all the leaves were calling me.” – Richard Le Gallienne
“If ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard.” – Proverb
Meeting adjourned
If you can count your blessings, you are blessed. Be kind.
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Great crested flycatcher Photo by Al Batt
Fort Benton, Montana, commemorates the dog who four times a day for 5.5 years returned to the train station where he’d witnessed his master’s casket being carried away. He waited for the man’s return. I spent a long time here. Waiting.