Random Musings of an adalpated mind
So we're now ten days into break, give or take, and all is right with the world. The oppressive-gawdawful preview of January has been eclipsed with a cool sunny day, perfect for this time in May. I've done what I could do to take advantage of this gorgeous weather. Last Tuesday I spent a good deal of the afternoon at Ledges, hiking the Lost Lake loop and reading in the sun at a picnic table overlooking the "lake". It's an overrated backwoods pond, but picturesque regardless. It made me want to learn the birdcalls. The silence was total, save for the twittering calls of the birds as the dipped and rolled in the air looking for bugs to eat and the occasional turtle plopping into the lake off of a nearby log, scared by the sound of my shifting or pacing. In a place like that, you can tell the approach of anyone. Two women, out for their walk, could be heard nearly one hundred yards before they got to my position, chatting as if they were in the mall and not their to revel in the glory of nature. A solitary man with a thready ponytail dangling down his back and a pair of binoculars on his chest approached me rather silently, and immediately left when I informed him that I had seen no ducks on the pond in the last hour. It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside. Saturday the wife and I spent the a good half of the day out at Hickory Grove lake fishing. She had no luck at all, unfortunately, save snagging the occasional tree or bush. I mself caught two trees and a bush, as well as three fish: a smallmouth bass, a bluegill, and my first crappie. The ironic thing about the crappie, my fish infatuation of late, was that despite the small jar of "guaranteed" crappie attractant sitting in my tackle bag, I landed him on a worm. My hook had no more than touched the water than he hit and tried to swim away with my bait. He got away, after a short hiatus on dry land whence he had his image struck with my thumb over his lower jaw. Then he hit the water and quickly whisped away, diving for less arid conditions.
On other fronts, meine Deutschkurs has begun. Two days in, and I'm enjoying it immensely. It's based on conversational German, so despite the minor amount of homework (now), I feel like I'm learning a good bit. It's mainly repetition and memorization in class, so when I get home I do the online assignments and the book work, but as yet it only takes a couple of hours. The first test is on Friday, and then we'll see how the rubber hits the road.
This weekend is our anniversary, so the wife and I will be in Bloomington, MN, celebrating the Great Midwestern Vacation: The Mall of America. We're taking off on Friday as soon as my class gets out, and then we'll be back on Sunday. I have no idea what the world's largest tourist trap holds for me, except for hopefully a not-to-expensive weekend. I want to go to the Lake Woebegone store and see what they're shilling to the NPR crowd, but beyond that, I just want to relax. I considered taking the wife to a surprise live Prairie Home Companion show, but I don't think the money will hold out, and I also don't want to get into the wrong end of a town full of sullen Lutherans. They use hot dish as weapons, I've heard.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Knittykittycook appears to be safely back in the US, so hopefully coffee is in my future. For now, I need to get back to ripping off the Ames Public Library's limited collection of folk and bluegrass music. I think I've finally picked the carcass clean, so now I need to find new areas to get free music.
Next time, musings rural and agricultural, I think.
On other fronts, meine Deutschkurs has begun. Two days in, and I'm enjoying it immensely. It's based on conversational German, so despite the minor amount of homework (now), I feel like I'm learning a good bit. It's mainly repetition and memorization in class, so when I get home I do the online assignments and the book work, but as yet it only takes a couple of hours. The first test is on Friday, and then we'll see how the rubber hits the road.
This weekend is our anniversary, so the wife and I will be in Bloomington, MN, celebrating the Great Midwestern Vacation: The Mall of America. We're taking off on Friday as soon as my class gets out, and then we'll be back on Sunday. I have no idea what the world's largest tourist trap holds for me, except for hopefully a not-to-expensive weekend. I want to go to the Lake Woebegone store and see what they're shilling to the NPR crowd, but beyond that, I just want to relax. I considered taking the wife to a surprise live Prairie Home Companion show, but I don't think the money will hold out, and I also don't want to get into the wrong end of a town full of sullen Lutherans. They use hot dish as weapons, I've heard.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Knittykittycook appears to be safely back in the US, so hopefully coffee is in my future. For now, I need to get back to ripping off the Ames Public Library's limited collection of folk and bluegrass music. I think I've finally picked the carcass clean, so now I need to find new areas to get free music.
Next time, musings rural and agricultural, I think.