Mutterings

 

Just another lovely day in our Selle Valley Paradise.

Nice to be saying that after waiting through the heat and smoke for so long. 

Nothing real exciting but it was definitely productive.

Less tall grass along the lane. 

Time spent on the tractor with the brush hog cutting tall grass next to the lane. 

Walking around the place with the dogs. 

Baking bread.

Pretty yum, yum with the plum jelly. 

Learning from the Schwan's man that he'll be coming on Tuesdays rather than Thursdays from now on.  He was just here last Thursday but came again to deliver the news and the back orders. 

Two chicken burrito bowls were added to our freezer. 

Our Schwan's man is new, having been on the job for a couple of months AND he still hasn't met Bill who orders all the Schwan's stuff.  

BUT he and I have become good enough friends that he pulls out his phone to show me pics of his German Shepherd pup named Athena---so named cuz she made life rough for her litter mates. 

It's always fun to start new relationships with the Schwan's deliverers.  Eventually they figure out all our habits and work around them----like not staying too long talking if they show up and there's a ZAGS game on our TV.  

They learn quickly that brevity is important when the ZAGS are playing. 

Anyway, I'm enjoying our new man and telling him each time that eventually he'll meet my hubby who's not really a figment of my imagination. 

Yesterday, I also spent some time watching turkeys take over the barnyard and then scatter once they saw a human show up near the fence. 

Turkeys can be very indecisive, especially with human presence, scurrying out of the barnyard under the fence, eyeing the human, quickly ducking back under the fence, returning to the barnyard. 

What to do! What to do!

Eventually, the adults and little ones figured it out, even though the young'uns remained confused. 

Mom's guiding whistle from over by the pasture helped direct the babies to where they needed to be. 

Soon, it was off to the woods to spend the night sleeping on tree limbs. 

I'm sure the whole daily cycle has already started again for today. 

I visited with my sisters yesterday.  We all agreed that our lives will go on even with Pandemic concerns.  

Seems we're all finally getting used to the up-and-down spirals of Pandemic life and learning to live with the ever-changing dynamics. 

I listened to similar sentiments from a good friend who has been traveling the past couple of weeks. She has her tools and her well-thought out strategy in place, including options should Plan A not work out.  

Seems that those of us who ain't spring chickens anymore are taking a lesson from those young turkeys: if this escape route doesn't work, try another.  

It all works out.

~~~~~

Below: a fun profile of a brilliant writer and historian. 

https://www.ft.com/stream/3e993280-9e2b-4b22-83a8-3f1342ae6105

Thinking about how she operates with thorough research and her vast knowledge as an historian and mulling over the "quick to judge" mentality we seem to have adopted of late, I submit that our public,  private and home-school education systems should re-introduce some vital staples to our school curriculum:  listening, research and discussion skills. 

It may take a while, but it would be nice if kids K12 had a steady diet at every level of learning how to listen---at the very least CLEAR THROUGH TO THE END OF SOMEONE'S SENTENCE. 

Also, if they were required to research factual sources representing at least three different perspectives and if they would learn discussion rules and courtesy, maybe we'd get back on track to civility and less animosity in our culture. 

Plus, they might not be lured into taking horse wormer to get over Covid. 

I read in the paper this morning about a local school board meeting where individual speakers were conveying their thoughts in a methodical fashion behind a podium, only to have members of the crowd start yelling out opposing views. 

I think we have lost our skills and appreciation for good discussion in favor of yelling, and I think it would be nice if we'd get back to the way we old codgers used to co-exist in our society without hating each other.  

Another thought I've had lately is how important it is in our "instant reaction" society to learn to "let the dust settle" before making outrageous judgments. 

These days there's a lot of talk about "living in the moment." 

Seems that concept has several levels, and, yes, it is important to live in wonderful moments we experience in the midst of so much anxiety.  Happily, we can still create good memories by doing so and actually enjoy ourselves.  

Also, it's important to just let some of those moments go when they don't unfold so well.  

I look at the situation in Afghanistan and how "the moment" of last week's activities generated pretty much every opinion available, many extremely harsh and definitely finger pointing aka blaming. 

Granted the moment of last week's sudden takeover by the Taliban and the events immediately afterward were hard to swallow.

But one observation I made while reading words from all the finger pointing voices was "What could America done differently?"  

Instead of solutions, we heard blame.

Again, maybe our schools should add another requirement to the curriculum:  problem solving.  

Seems the skill almost always elicits more positivity than the well-oiled "skill" of blame.  

Just sayin'. 

Happy Wednesday. 

Hope everyone has a few good "in the moments" today, like watching turkeys figure out solutions to their problems.  

Yes, I tinkered with this photo to get rid of the barbwire in the foreground.  Mostly succeeded.