Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Lunch and dinner and supper, oh my!
Here's an interesting survey result: According to a Rasmussen telephone survey, nearly two-thirds (65%) of Americans say they eat dinner with family members at least twice a week.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) say they eat with members of their family more than three times a week, while 27% say they do so two or three times in a typical week. Another 10% say they dine with family members once every week.
Read the article here.
But it got me thinking. (Oh yeah, we know something truly witty and intellectual is coming next, don't we?)
When they say dinner, do they mean the meal that all us Swedes from Isabel country call supper? And that begs another question: Do people SAY supper anymore? Or is dinner kind of a catch-all phrase to mean any meal that you eat together?
Who would think that a simple poll could become so entirely confusing, eh?
Do I eat dinner with my family three or more times a week? Well, yes, if it's supper! Usually the only night we don't eat together as a family is Wednesday, because the kids have back-to-back religion classes.
I eat my lunch (which us Swedes from Isabel call dinner) with Riley the wily Springer Spaniel, who usually ends up begging for -- and getting -- at least part of my dinner....uh, lunch.
Anyway, I just hope for the poll's accuracy, that all those polled people weren't as confused as I was.
Happy dining!
Dawn
Thirty-eight percent (38%) say they eat with members of their family more than three times a week, while 27% say they do so two or three times in a typical week. Another 10% say they dine with family members once every week.
Read the article here.
But it got me thinking. (Oh yeah, we know something truly witty and intellectual is coming next, don't we?)
When they say dinner, do they mean the meal that all us Swedes from Isabel country call supper? And that begs another question: Do people SAY supper anymore? Or is dinner kind of a catch-all phrase to mean any meal that you eat together?
Who would think that a simple poll could become so entirely confusing, eh?
Do I eat dinner with my family three or more times a week? Well, yes, if it's supper! Usually the only night we don't eat together as a family is Wednesday, because the kids have back-to-back religion classes.
I eat my lunch (which us Swedes from Isabel call dinner) with Riley the wily Springer Spaniel, who usually ends up begging for -- and getting -- at least part of my dinner....uh, lunch.
Anyway, I just hope for the poll's accuracy, that all those polled people weren't as confused as I was.
Happy dining!
Dawn
My noodles have entered the grocery
On October 21, I started growing wheat; more specifically, durum, in an inspiring simulation sponsored by the Wheat Foods Council.
Yesterday, I visited my noodles in the grocery store. I am happy to report that they were selling like hotcakes. (Okay, the simulation actually did not indicate that my noodles were selling like hotcakes, just that they were there. I kind of extrapolated my robust sales part.)
Hotcakes, by the way, are NOT made of durum, but a main ingredient of hotcakes, griddlecakes or pancakes, as many of us call them, is wheat flour.
For every person who finishes the four-part simulation, the Wheat Food Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to OperationHomefront.net. That's a lot of flour, folks! In fact, when I finished the simulation, it indicated that those 90,000 pounds of flour could be used to bake 1,440,000 blueberry muffins. Now, that's a lot of muffins for a very good cause, for a very small investment on your part.
According to the OperationHomefront website, its purpose is to provide emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home.
I hope more of you will consider going through the simulation and share it with others who aren't familiar with what it takes to get food on our tables.
It would even be a great project to incorporate into a classroom discussion. The Wheat Foods Council has also posted educational guides, at How Wheat Works Guides.
Happy wheat learning!
Dawn
Yesterday, I visited my noodles in the grocery store. I am happy to report that they were selling like hotcakes. (Okay, the simulation actually did not indicate that my noodles were selling like hotcakes, just that they were there. I kind of extrapolated my robust sales part.)
Hotcakes, by the way, are NOT made of durum, but a main ingredient of hotcakes, griddlecakes or pancakes, as many of us call them, is wheat flour.
For every person who finishes the four-part simulation, the Wheat Food Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to OperationHomefront.net. That's a lot of flour, folks! In fact, when I finished the simulation, it indicated that those 90,000 pounds of flour could be used to bake 1,440,000 blueberry muffins. Now, that's a lot of muffins for a very good cause, for a very small investment on your part.
According to the OperationHomefront website, its purpose is to provide emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home.
I hope more of you will consider going through the simulation and share it with others who aren't familiar with what it takes to get food on our tables.
It would even be a great project to incorporate into a classroom discussion. The Wheat Foods Council has also posted educational guides, at How Wheat Works Guides.
Happy wheat learning!
Dawn
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The pumpkin brigade
Pumpkins at day
Pumpkins at night
Childrens' carved pumpkins, an absolute delight!
Okay, so my poetry is...oh, okay, it smells worse than rotting pumpkins! Nevertheless, I think the carved pumpkins this year were smashing! (Not to be confused with the group Smashing Pumpkins, who I bet get a lot of hits on their website this time of year.)
But, I digress. My son came up with and carved the dog-face pumpkin. It is a likeness of our Springer Spaniel, which I think turned out very nicely.
And did you know that the term jack-o-lantern (via Wikipedia, again) "can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip."
Happy carving!
Dawn
Pumpkins at night
Childrens' carved pumpkins, an absolute delight!
Okay, so my poetry is...oh, okay, it smells worse than rotting pumpkins! Nevertheless, I think the carved pumpkins this year were smashing! (Not to be confused with the group Smashing Pumpkins, who I bet get a lot of hits on their website this time of year.)
But, I digress. My son came up with and carved the dog-face pumpkin. It is a likeness of our Springer Spaniel, which I think turned out very nicely.
And did you know that the term jack-o-lantern (via Wikipedia, again) "can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip."
Happy carving!
Dawn
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Festival, shmestival
I received this from the Rasmussen poll people in my e-mail inbox today...
"Many schools are replacing the word 'Halloween' with 'Fall Festival' because of negative connotations some see in the long-standing holiday name. But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% of adults do not think it's a good idea to change the name. Nineteen percent (19%) say a name-change is a good idea, and 15% are not sure."
Call me naive or oblivious, but having a problem with the name Halloween just struck me as odd. So I figured I was naive and/or oblivious and needed to do a little more research. After all, maybe I should be concerned about the "negative connotations" too. I just couldn't figure out what they were.
Good old Wikipedia: the Halloween entry gave me all kinds of insight into those who don't like and those who don't care, about the name.
It's enough to make your head spin.
By the time I got done reading, I felt like I had to apologize to everybody. But calling Halloween a fall festival just seems....well, let's just say I agree with the 66 percent in the Rasmussen poll.
And I will admit it's completely because I have kids who love Halloween. My daughter has been trying on her Halloween costume (she's going to be a puppy) since we bought it almost two weeks ago. She is so excited for her Halloween party at school, that's all she's been talking about for days.
When we carved pumpkins this past weekend, she drew a picture of how she wanted her pumpkin to look so I could carve it for her. And she announced last night that she wanted to wear a Halloween shirt to school on Friday, prior to changing into her costume. I bought her a cute skeleton shirt.
So my hope is that Halloween stays Halloween at least until my littlest cherub just doesn't care about it anymore!
Tomorrow, pumpkin faces!
Happy pumpkin week!
Dawn
"Many schools are replacing the word 'Halloween' with 'Fall Festival' because of negative connotations some see in the long-standing holiday name. But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% of adults do not think it's a good idea to change the name. Nineteen percent (19%) say a name-change is a good idea, and 15% are not sure."
Call me naive or oblivious, but having a problem with the name Halloween just struck me as odd. So I figured I was naive and/or oblivious and needed to do a little more research. After all, maybe I should be concerned about the "negative connotations" too. I just couldn't figure out what they were.
Good old Wikipedia: the Halloween entry gave me all kinds of insight into those who don't like and those who don't care, about the name.
It's enough to make your head spin.
By the time I got done reading, I felt like I had to apologize to everybody. But calling Halloween a fall festival just seems....well, let's just say I agree with the 66 percent in the Rasmussen poll.
And I will admit it's completely because I have kids who love Halloween. My daughter has been trying on her Halloween costume (she's going to be a puppy) since we bought it almost two weeks ago. She is so excited for her Halloween party at school, that's all she's been talking about for days.
When we carved pumpkins this past weekend, she drew a picture of how she wanted her pumpkin to look so I could carve it for her. And she announced last night that she wanted to wear a Halloween shirt to school on Friday, prior to changing into her costume. I bought her a cute skeleton shirt.
So my hope is that Halloween stays Halloween at least until my littlest cherub just doesn't care about it anymore!
Tomorrow, pumpkin faces!
Happy pumpkin week!
Dawn
Monday, October 26, 2009
Team Flower Burn
Mission half accomplished! This past Saturday, the whole family worked together to cut down and burn at least half of my dead flower debris.
It was quite a production; burning in the mist, which, by the time we decided to call it quits, was more of a light rain. But I was amazed at how much more we got done when all four of us were working on it: Team Flower Burn turned what was a three-hour job for me, myself and I, to an hour-long task.
My husband cut down the flowers with a weed whacker. My son (who is learning about fire safety so could use the whole experience as a boy scout learning thing) started and manned the fire. My daughter and I hauled the debris from the beds to the fire. The dog stayed in the kennel because he would have only been running around, trying to steal the debris from us.
It was all pretty efficient. My only lament? Some of the flowers simply are refusing to shrivel up and dry. They are actually attempting to sprout more greenery under the overlying dried up stuff.
The result was that the fire often became a smudge pot, stinkier than all get out and billowing thick, funky-colored smoke. After a really stinky batch, I decided we should wait for a few more weeks to burn the rest.
Here's hoping I can get Team Flower Burn to reprise their roles in a couple of weeks.
Happy drying!
Dawn
It was quite a production; burning in the mist, which, by the time we decided to call it quits, was more of a light rain. But I was amazed at how much more we got done when all four of us were working on it: Team Flower Burn turned what was a three-hour job for me, myself and I, to an hour-long task.
My husband cut down the flowers with a weed whacker. My son (who is learning about fire safety so could use the whole experience as a boy scout learning thing) started and manned the fire. My daughter and I hauled the debris from the beds to the fire. The dog stayed in the kennel because he would have only been running around, trying to steal the debris from us.
It was all pretty efficient. My only lament? Some of the flowers simply are refusing to shrivel up and dry. They are actually attempting to sprout more greenery under the overlying dried up stuff.
The result was that the fire often became a smudge pot, stinkier than all get out and billowing thick, funky-colored smoke. After a really stinky batch, I decided we should wait for a few more weeks to burn the rest.
Here's hoping I can get Team Flower Burn to reprise their roles in a couple of weeks.
Happy drying!
Dawn
Friday, October 23, 2009
When I was a kid
Oh golly, I'm at the "when I was a kid," stage of my life. How did this happen? Where did the time go?
I recently had to explain to my son, who is 12, how to use a rotary phone. It's one of those things you just assume everyone knows. I mean, after all, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Maybe to an old geezer like me, but not to a kid who has grown up with push buttons.
I also explained to him why some television program had the television on the program shutting off and having a white dot in the middle of the t.v.? Remember that one folks?
Remember party lines? The lady down the road always knew what was going on with the kids in the neighborhood because she listened to every conversation. I'm sure if you asked a bunch of teenagers what "party line" means to them, they'd have a completely different answer. I bet a 20-something would too, come to think of it. Man, I'm gettin' old!
Oh well, it's the journey that matters, right?
It's great to be a geezer! And just know that your time will come too, if it hasn't already!
Happy growing old!
Dawn
I recently had to explain to my son, who is 12, how to use a rotary phone. It's one of those things you just assume everyone knows. I mean, after all, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Maybe to an old geezer like me, but not to a kid who has grown up with push buttons.
I also explained to him why some television program had the television on the program shutting off and having a white dot in the middle of the t.v.? Remember that one folks?
Remember party lines? The lady down the road always knew what was going on with the kids in the neighborhood because she listened to every conversation. I'm sure if you asked a bunch of teenagers what "party line" means to them, they'd have a completely different answer. I bet a 20-something would too, come to think of it. Man, I'm gettin' old!
Oh well, it's the journey that matters, right?
It's great to be a geezer! And just know that your time will come too, if it hasn't already!
Happy growing old!
Dawn
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I started growing wheat today
Actually, more specifically, durum. I chose durum because North Dakota leads the nation in durum production and because I'm pretty fond of my pasta.
To be even more specific, I'm not actually growing my durum. I'm going through a simulation in which my crop is planted, then harvested, then processed, then purchased by, well, by me, among others.
And when I'm done with the simulation, the Wheat Foods Council will donate 2 pounds of flour to OperationHomefront.net. Operation Homefront provides emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home.
It's a pretty cool deal, and I would encourage you to go through the simulation. It will take four days, will require you to sign up and give them your name, age and e-mail address. (Oh, maybe you can fudge a little on the age thing, but I didn't.) You will get an e-mail back asking you activate your account by clicking on a link, and that's when you start the simulation. You will receive an e-mail on each of the subsequent days for you to go through the next step of the process.
So far, I can only tell you that I have a durum crop. Tomorrow's installment will take me through the harvest. And even though I work for a farm organization and grew up on a farm, I've already learned a few things.(Like I did not know that within each of the six classes of wheat, there are approximately 30,000 seed varieties or that wheat was first grown in the United States in 1777.)
But I'm not giving any more away. Sign up yourself and follow your wheat from the field to your plate! Go to HowWheatWorks.com.
Happy wheat growing!
Dawn
To be even more specific, I'm not actually growing my durum. I'm going through a simulation in which my crop is planted, then harvested, then processed, then purchased by, well, by me, among others.
And when I'm done with the simulation, the Wheat Foods Council will donate 2 pounds of flour to OperationHomefront.net. Operation Homefront provides emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home.
It's a pretty cool deal, and I would encourage you to go through the simulation. It will take four days, will require you to sign up and give them your name, age and e-mail address. (Oh, maybe you can fudge a little on the age thing, but I didn't.) You will get an e-mail back asking you activate your account by clicking on a link, and that's when you start the simulation. You will receive an e-mail on each of the subsequent days for you to go through the next step of the process.
So far, I can only tell you that I have a durum crop. Tomorrow's installment will take me through the harvest. And even though I work for a farm organization and grew up on a farm, I've already learned a few things.(Like I did not know that within each of the six classes of wheat, there are approximately 30,000 seed varieties or that wheat was first grown in the United States in 1777.)
But I'm not giving any more away. Sign up yourself and follow your wheat from the field to your plate! Go to HowWheatWorks.com.
Happy wheat growing!
Dawn
Monday, October 19, 2009
Carrot surprise
It was 80 degrees yesterday and I didn't get to any of the flower-cutting chores I thought I would get to when we had a nice day. Part of it was laziness and part of it was busyness, if you can believe that.
By the time the lunch (dinner to people from the area where I grew up) dishes were done, we had approximately three hours before the next event of the day required another trip to town.
Did I really want to get all dirty cutting down flowers for a couple hours, then go in and shower and fix my hair? (Sidebar: Hair-fixing is a completely loathsome task to me, so the thought of having to do it more than once a day can pretty much tip the scale in any direction OTHER than the hair-fixing direction.)
Anyway, back to the question: Yes to the first part; no to the second.
I DID want to get dirty in my garden, but the cleaning up part was just too much for me. So, I opted for what would surely be a small task: Digging carrots from my sorry excuse for a garden.
With exactly five ears of corn and zero pumpkins, I wasn't actually expecting to have any carrots. But I dutifully traipsed out to the garden with spade dragging behind me. Turns out the garden was still muddy from our recent snow, so I didn't need the spade. The carrots pulled easily. And I have to admit, I got a big old smile on my face with each pull.
I looked to the shriveled pumpkin vine and the meager corn stocks and smiled, "Self, you actually HAVE a carrot crop."
And while most of the carrots were on the small side, they taste better than the big ones, anyway. And the ones that were just too small to clean are a treat for the family dog.
I expected carrot failure and got carrot surprise, instead.
Here's hoping you have many happy suprises too!
Dawn
By the time the lunch (dinner to people from the area where I grew up) dishes were done, we had approximately three hours before the next event of the day required another trip to town.
Did I really want to get all dirty cutting down flowers for a couple hours, then go in and shower and fix my hair? (Sidebar: Hair-fixing is a completely loathsome task to me, so the thought of having to do it more than once a day can pretty much tip the scale in any direction OTHER than the hair-fixing direction.)
Anyway, back to the question: Yes to the first part; no to the second.
I DID want to get dirty in my garden, but the cleaning up part was just too much for me. So, I opted for what would surely be a small task: Digging carrots from my sorry excuse for a garden.
With exactly five ears of corn and zero pumpkins, I wasn't actually expecting to have any carrots. But I dutifully traipsed out to the garden with spade dragging behind me. Turns out the garden was still muddy from our recent snow, so I didn't need the spade. The carrots pulled easily. And I have to admit, I got a big old smile on my face with each pull.
I looked to the shriveled pumpkin vine and the meager corn stocks and smiled, "Self, you actually HAVE a carrot crop."
And while most of the carrots were on the small side, they taste better than the big ones, anyway. And the ones that were just too small to clean are a treat for the family dog.
I expected carrot failure and got carrot surprise, instead.
Here's hoping you have many happy suprises too!
Dawn
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Food, Land and People
One of my coworkers, Gail Bakko, shared these quotes that appear in Food, Land and People lessons Farm Bureau promotes and sponsors. I thought they were pretty darn good, so I'm sharing them too!
The Food, Land and People workshops, held each summer throughout the state, help educate educators about the importance of agriculture to all of us.
Here are some of the quotes:
"Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it." - Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), nationalist, moral and spiritual leader in India. The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi.
"If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people." - Chinese Proverb
"1. There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is in the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
"2. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land." - Aldo Leopold (1886-1948)
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
"He who has bread may have many troubles; He who lacks it has only one." - Old Byzantine Proverb
"Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic, but destroy our farms and grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." - William Jennings Bryan, (1860-1925)
And my favorite:
"If you desire peace, cultivate justice but at the same time cultivate the fields efficiently to produce more bread, otherwise there will be no peace." - Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient (died 2009)
Words to think about and live by, methinks!
Dawn
The Food, Land and People workshops, held each summer throughout the state, help educate educators about the importance of agriculture to all of us.
Here are some of the quotes:
"Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it." - Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), nationalist, moral and spiritual leader in India. The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi.
"If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people." - Chinese Proverb
"1. There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is in the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
"2. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land." - Aldo Leopold (1886-1948)
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
"He who has bread may have many troubles; He who lacks it has only one." - Old Byzantine Proverb
"Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic, but destroy our farms and grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." - William Jennings Bryan, (1860-1925)
And my favorite:
"If you desire peace, cultivate justice but at the same time cultivate the fields efficiently to produce more bread, otherwise there will be no peace." - Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient (died 2009)
Words to think about and live by, methinks!
Dawn
Monday, October 12, 2009
Dried apples
There is a great truth in life, and it is, no matter how old you get, moms and dads still know how to spoil their kids.
I'm almost at that age when they start telling you about all the benefits you can get with an AARP card, but I still got spoiled this weekend. Not only did my mom and dad come to visit, but they came bearing an ice cream bucket filled with dried apples!
Let me explain.
About a year ago, I was visiting my mom and dad's farm and, like all kids do, I was checking the containers in the kitchen for something to eat. There was a white ice cream bucket on the counter, so I opened it and saw a mound of dried apples. I ate a couple. Then I pretty much continued to graze on the things over the weekend until they were gone.
They'd laugh a little every time they saw me getting into the bucket, but man, they were just so darn good, I couldn't resist.
And once you get to snacking on them, you kind of crave them, so once I got home, I made several attempts at drying my own apples. They never tasted as good. And eventually, as the months progressed, I kind of forgot about dried apples.
Until this past weekend. When they brought in that bucket, I swear I started salivating, just like Pavlov's dog and the dinner bell.
Needless to say, it's Monday, and that bucket of apples is almost gone!
So I'll have to try drying my own apples again when these are gone, but I know they just won't be as good.
Sometimes getting spoiled really rocks! : )
Happy apple-eating!
Dawn
I'm almost at that age when they start telling you about all the benefits you can get with an AARP card, but I still got spoiled this weekend. Not only did my mom and dad come to visit, but they came bearing an ice cream bucket filled with dried apples!
Let me explain.
About a year ago, I was visiting my mom and dad's farm and, like all kids do, I was checking the containers in the kitchen for something to eat. There was a white ice cream bucket on the counter, so I opened it and saw a mound of dried apples. I ate a couple. Then I pretty much continued to graze on the things over the weekend until they were gone.
They'd laugh a little every time they saw me getting into the bucket, but man, they were just so darn good, I couldn't resist.
And once you get to snacking on them, you kind of crave them, so once I got home, I made several attempts at drying my own apples. They never tasted as good. And eventually, as the months progressed, I kind of forgot about dried apples.
Until this past weekend. When they brought in that bucket, I swear I started salivating, just like Pavlov's dog and the dinner bell.
Needless to say, it's Monday, and that bucket of apples is almost gone!
So I'll have to try drying my own apples again when these are gone, but I know they just won't be as good.
Sometimes getting spoiled really rocks! : )
Happy apple-eating!
Dawn
Friday, October 9, 2009
Whatever....
When your son needs to print out his English paper, your daughter keeps taking off her shoes because of sock bumps and the bus is waaaay early, instead of pulling out your hair because nobody is listening to your pleas to, "Hurry or you'll miss the bus!" maybe that's the time you just need to say, "Oh, whatever!" (And do I get an award for writing perhaps the longest sentence you have ever read?) You just may want to say it to yourself, however, because it was recently voted the most obnoxious word you can say.
To be more precise, it was voted the most "annoying" word you can say. Whatever! : )
Marist Poll
Apparently, us laid-back, overly polite Midwesterners are REALLY against people saying "whatever." While 47 percent, nationally, voted "whatever" to be the most annoying, a full 55 percent of us in the Midwest say, "Nah-uh. Don't you say 'whatever' to me!"
Make sure you check out the table the poll includes. It breaks down our dislike of the word (and others) by gender, income, race and more. Most Annoying Phrase table.
For instance, men and women both find "whatever" equally annoying.
People under 45 find it to be more annoying than do people over 45. Maybe it's because we can't HEAR as well, eh? ("Oh, you said 'whatever'? I thought you said, 'Oh, clever' and I was patting myself on the back for my extraorindary wit!")
For some reason, I find this utterly fascinating. Maybe it's the communications nerd in me.
Oh my gosh! I just looked out the window. It's October 9 and it's snowing! Sideways!
WHATEVVVER!!!!
Happy Friday!
Dawn
To be more precise, it was voted the most "annoying" word you can say. Whatever! : )
Marist Poll
Apparently, us laid-back, overly polite Midwesterners are REALLY against people saying "whatever." While 47 percent, nationally, voted "whatever" to be the most annoying, a full 55 percent of us in the Midwest say, "Nah-uh. Don't you say 'whatever' to me!"
Make sure you check out the table the poll includes. It breaks down our dislike of the word (and others) by gender, income, race and more. Most Annoying Phrase table.
For instance, men and women both find "whatever" equally annoying.
People under 45 find it to be more annoying than do people over 45. Maybe it's because we can't HEAR as well, eh? ("Oh, you said 'whatever'? I thought you said, 'Oh, clever' and I was patting myself on the back for my extraorindary wit!")
For some reason, I find this utterly fascinating. Maybe it's the communications nerd in me.
Oh my gosh! I just looked out the window. It's October 9 and it's snowing! Sideways!
WHATEVVVER!!!!
Happy Friday!
Dawn
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Plants "text" when they're thirsty
I received this from a co-worker and thought it was so interesting, I just had to share:
An automated drought-monitoring system has been developed that allows farmers to receive text messages on their cell phones from plants that “say” whether or not they’re “thirsty.” There is a battery-operated infrared thermometer placed in irrigated fields to monitor leaf temperatures and relay the information to a computerized base station. Hooking up a cell phone modem to the station allows downloading of temperature data to a personal computer. The modem can also send text messages to a farmer’s cell phone.
Here's a link: Plants "text" when they're thirsty.
Isn't that something?
Happy watering!
Dawn
An automated drought-monitoring system has been developed that allows farmers to receive text messages on their cell phones from plants that “say” whether or not they’re “thirsty.” There is a battery-operated infrared thermometer placed in irrigated fields to monitor leaf temperatures and relay the information to a computerized base station. Hooking up a cell phone modem to the station allows downloading of temperature data to a personal computer. The modem can also send text messages to a farmer’s cell phone.
Here's a link: Plants "text" when they're thirsty.
Isn't that something?
Happy watering!
Dawn
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
On squeaky wheels
Some days, it is very had to be a communicator for agriculture. And usually it's on those days when you see all the stories about the people who know how to "fix everything that is wrong with agriculture" when they have never been involved in agriculture and probably have never set foot on a farm.
But then you get something that boosts your spirits again. And today, it was from a politician, believe it or not!!!
Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns was speaking at a farm policy meeting and he said, "It seems like agriculture gets hit from a different angle every day. Environmental groups push extreme policies that would decrease productivity. Animal rights ...groups push an agenda that is based on emotion rather than science. And there seems to be, from the current administration, an idyllic vision of the countryside, without much of a realistic understanding of how modern-day agriculture feeds an ever-growing world population."
Here's the link to the whole thing: Sen. Johanns' remarks.
Senator Johanns was right on target. That's how it feels so much of the time. People want all the conveniences modern agriculture has provided them, but they want farmers to farm like they did a century ago. Who else is expected to do that?
We have a joke in my family, "The squeaky wheel gets a ride," meaning the complainer gets picked up and carried so we don't have to listen to the complaining anymore. We can't afford to do that in agriculture, though. The squeaky wheels are making it more and more difficult for farmers and ranchers to farm and ranch. Keep it up, and there won't be anyone to carry the squeakers.
So here's to less squeaking and more supporting!
Happy rational thinking!
Dawn
But then you get something that boosts your spirits again. And today, it was from a politician, believe it or not!!!
Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns was speaking at a farm policy meeting and he said, "It seems like agriculture gets hit from a different angle every day. Environmental groups push extreme policies that would decrease productivity. Animal rights ...groups push an agenda that is based on emotion rather than science. And there seems to be, from the current administration, an idyllic vision of the countryside, without much of a realistic understanding of how modern-day agriculture feeds an ever-growing world population."
Here's the link to the whole thing: Sen. Johanns' remarks.
Senator Johanns was right on target. That's how it feels so much of the time. People want all the conveniences modern agriculture has provided them, but they want farmers to farm like they did a century ago. Who else is expected to do that?
We have a joke in my family, "The squeaky wheel gets a ride," meaning the complainer gets picked up and carried so we don't have to listen to the complaining anymore. We can't afford to do that in agriculture, though. The squeaky wheels are making it more and more difficult for farmers and ranchers to farm and ranch. Keep it up, and there won't be anyone to carry the squeakers.
So here's to less squeaking and more supporting!
Happy rational thinking!
Dawn
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Think spring!
Okay, it wasn't too long ago that I said I was ready for fall because my flowers were looking so nasty and droopy, but I should have been more specific. I was not really interested in the end-of-fall-teetering-on-winter weather that we are experiencing right now.
Complain, complain, complain, eh? Hey, if I didn't complain about the weather, what could I possibly complain about at all?
I'm in a semi-warm office. (Okay, I'm wearing my jacket because the thing above me is blowing out semi-cold air).
It's cold -- but not raining anymore -- outside.
We're scheduled for a hard freeze this weekend, but I won't be the kid who will have to sleep outside in a tent as part of a club outing.
I do, however, have a pile of flowers that need the fall "treatment" and I'm not really excited about the whole prospect of whacking down a bunch of dead and/or dying flowers with numb fingers. I get a little clumsy with numb fingers.
So, I'm going to pretend it's all not really happening and instead revel in thoughts of spring. And here's the photo that will help me get there!
Thank goodness for the artwork of little girls!
Happy spring-like thoughts!
Dawn
Complain, complain, complain, eh? Hey, if I didn't complain about the weather, what could I possibly complain about at all?
I'm in a semi-warm office. (Okay, I'm wearing my jacket because the thing above me is blowing out semi-cold air).
It's cold -- but not raining anymore -- outside.
We're scheduled for a hard freeze this weekend, but I won't be the kid who will have to sleep outside in a tent as part of a club outing.
I do, however, have a pile of flowers that need the fall "treatment" and I'm not really excited about the whole prospect of whacking down a bunch of dead and/or dying flowers with numb fingers. I get a little clumsy with numb fingers.
So, I'm going to pretend it's all not really happening and instead revel in thoughts of spring. And here's the photo that will help me get there!
Thank goodness for the artwork of little girls!
Happy spring-like thoughts!
Dawn
Monday, October 5, 2009
A weird thing that bugs me
I really don't think of myself as uptight, but for some reason, there is an agriculture reference on one of my exercise videos that bugs me. It's a step video -- and I do mean video. VHS. You know, that stuff we had back in the '90s?!
Maybe it makes me cranky because I get up at 5:30 a.m. to exercise. Or maybe I have just heard it so many times, the familiarity of it makes me cranky. Or maybe I'm more uptight than I thought. But nevertheless, the thing that gets me complaining to myself every time I do the darn step routine is when one of the steppers says of a move, "Reminds me of the farm, Farmer Kathy and Farmer Jamie" or some such thing as they are drawing clenched fists up to their chins, with elbows outstretched.
I have to admit that I do recall something from somewhere in which a move similar to what we are stepping to is done by either a cartoon farmer or maybe it was in a musical or something.
But I'm here to tell you I have never seen an actual farmer doing what I just described.
Never.
I'm sure the person who made the comment never really thought about it as being stereotypical or reducing farmers to a caricature, but these days, with everyone thinking they know how farmers should farm, the stereotypes and caricatures bug me a little more than they used to. And maybe, just maybe, that's a good thing.
So that's the weird step video thing that bugs me. I know. I should just turn down the sound. But at 5:30 in the morning, I kind of feel entitled to a little righteous indignation! : )
Happy farm dancing!
Dawn
Maybe it makes me cranky because I get up at 5:30 a.m. to exercise. Or maybe I have just heard it so many times, the familiarity of it makes me cranky. Or maybe I'm more uptight than I thought. But nevertheless, the thing that gets me complaining to myself every time I do the darn step routine is when one of the steppers says of a move, "Reminds me of the farm, Farmer Kathy and Farmer Jamie" or some such thing as they are drawing clenched fists up to their chins, with elbows outstretched.
I have to admit that I do recall something from somewhere in which a move similar to what we are stepping to is done by either a cartoon farmer or maybe it was in a musical or something.
But I'm here to tell you I have never seen an actual farmer doing what I just described.
Never.
I'm sure the person who made the comment never really thought about it as being stereotypical or reducing farmers to a caricature, but these days, with everyone thinking they know how farmers should farm, the stereotypes and caricatures bug me a little more than they used to. And maybe, just maybe, that's a good thing.
So that's the weird step video thing that bugs me. I know. I should just turn down the sound. But at 5:30 in the morning, I kind of feel entitled to a little righteous indignation! : )
Happy farm dancing!
Dawn
Friday, October 2, 2009
Handy with a tree spade?
I was re-reading Ron Smith's Hortiscope advice (read it the news section of North Dakota Values) to someone who asked about transplanting a 10-foot apple tree. It brought me back to last year's late summer attempt to replant four spruce trees; three rather large, one small.
Mr. Smith said, in response, "I hope you are going to employ someone who is handy with a tree spade. These are large trees to be moving by hand and having any success in doing so."
I am here to tell you I was not the person to employ because I am not handy with a tree spade, or any kind of spade for that matter. I'm guessing the foreman of the project (my husband) figured that his assistant was a little stronger and a little smarter about this stuff than the assistant actually proved to be.
While he was digging away with his spade, I was jumping up and down on mine, just trying to get the darn thing into the ground far enough to turn over the soil. Did I mention that I was spade-inept?
And all that jumping up and down did absolutely nothing for the trees. Out of the four trees we replanted, the three rather large trees mentioned in the first paragraph perished. By spring they were the Charlie Brownest (or is that Charliest Brown?) trees you have ever seen. Only the smallest, which was about three feet tall, survived. The rest were hauled to the fire pit and burned, much to the chagrin of the other stately 15-foot spruce trees nearby who watched the whole ordeal! (You KNOW I'm kidding about that, right?)
So, believe Mr. Smith when he says, "These are large trees to be moving by hand and having any success in doing so."
And if you must do so, for heaven's sake, get an assistant who is handy with a tree spade.
Happy digging!
Dawn
Mr. Smith said, in response, "I hope you are going to employ someone who is handy with a tree spade. These are large trees to be moving by hand and having any success in doing so."
I am here to tell you I was not the person to employ because I am not handy with a tree spade, or any kind of spade for that matter. I'm guessing the foreman of the project (my husband) figured that his assistant was a little stronger and a little smarter about this stuff than the assistant actually proved to be.
While he was digging away with his spade, I was jumping up and down on mine, just trying to get the darn thing into the ground far enough to turn over the soil. Did I mention that I was spade-inept?
And all that jumping up and down did absolutely nothing for the trees. Out of the four trees we replanted, the three rather large trees mentioned in the first paragraph perished. By spring they were the Charlie Brownest (or is that Charliest Brown?) trees you have ever seen. Only the smallest, which was about three feet tall, survived. The rest were hauled to the fire pit and burned, much to the chagrin of the other stately 15-foot spruce trees nearby who watched the whole ordeal! (You KNOW I'm kidding about that, right?)
So, believe Mr. Smith when he says, "These are large trees to be moving by hand and having any success in doing so."
And if you must do so, for heaven's sake, get an assistant who is handy with a tree spade.
Happy digging!
Dawn
Blogus interruptus
There's nothing like a phone call asking, "Are you coming to pick up your daughter?" to make you completely forget about the blog you are writing. That happened yesterday, which was Thursday.
Normally, my kids ride the bus, but I had mentioned on Wednesday evening that on Friday, they wouldn't be riding the bus and I would pick them up. (Note to self: NEVER tell a 7-year-old until the day they WON'T be riding the bus that they won't be riding the bus!)
So I dropped everything and drove for what seemed like an eternity (in reality, it was ten minutes, tops) to pick her up. All was well, but it really made me think about how I need to ask questions of my children so I'm sure they understand what I'm saying.
And being ever so true to my forgetful self, I only thought about reminding them that they wouldn't be riding the bus after school today until they were getting on the bus this morning, and they were out of earshot.
And I'm supposed to be the communicator!?!?
So today, I'm sending out two blogs. This one explaining my blogus interruptus and the actual one I was going to send out yesterday.
Happy communicating!
Dawn
Normally, my kids ride the bus, but I had mentioned on Wednesday evening that on Friday, they wouldn't be riding the bus and I would pick them up. (Note to self: NEVER tell a 7-year-old until the day they WON'T be riding the bus that they won't be riding the bus!)
So I dropped everything and drove for what seemed like an eternity (in reality, it was ten minutes, tops) to pick her up. All was well, but it really made me think about how I need to ask questions of my children so I'm sure they understand what I'm saying.
And being ever so true to my forgetful self, I only thought about reminding them that they wouldn't be riding the bus after school today until they were getting on the bus this morning, and they were out of earshot.
And I'm supposed to be the communicator!?!?
So today, I'm sending out two blogs. This one explaining my blogus interruptus and the actual one I was going to send out yesterday.
Happy communicating!
Dawn
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