Monday Mutterings

 

We have hay coming to our barn tonight. 

Two high school wrestling standouts (twins) will be bringing us our 30 bales of hay.  

Because of boarding my horses over the winter, I have enough hay in the barn to last through next spring, but even with yesterday's rain, pastures are drying up. 

So, it will be nice to have the extra for supplementing over the next few weeks. 

I'm noticing lots of ripe tomatoes and seeing that my four corn stalks have ears that are maturing.  Can't wait to see if the ears are loaded with corn.

It won't be long before the need for summer watering will subside.   

I saw Willie yesterday, and the conversation suggested that fall is coming on strong.  

He was getting together with friends who participate in Fantasy Football.  He also told me that Sandpoint High will experience a major change this year. 

No quarter grades to figure.  He noted that these days grades are available to parents 24-7 via computers so there's no need for a quarterly report card. 

It's a drastic change, historically, in the order of school curriculum but it also seems pretty sensible.

The squirrels apparently get the word when I go to town for some more sunflower seeds.  

Yesterday while looking out the garden window, I suggested to Bill that a squirrel convention was happening. 

It was constant motion as five of the little critters were scurrying around the lawn, across a garden fence board and, of course, around the bird feeders. 

It's a banner year for golden rod. 

This show, coming up Sept. 18-20 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, should be a lot of fun, and adding to the fun, some new classes. 

From Ukraine, with Cindy Wooden . . . .she says she'll be moving on tomorrow, driving to Lviv in Western Ukraine to attend the wedding.

It's Independence Day in Ukraine. 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday for celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day as Russia pressed on with its 4-year-old invasion of the country.

One of President Vladimir Putin’s key goals in starting a war with Russia’s neighbor in February 2022 was to place Kyiv in Moscow’s orbit. 

Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Aug. 24, 1991, to proclaim the country’s independence from Moscow, and a nationwide referendum later that year overwhelmingly approved it.

With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent progress after more than a year of U.S.-led peace efforts, both countries are locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks  that are killing civilians and smashing infrastructure.

Above:  overlooking Kyiv. 

Below: a statue of St. Volodymyr the Great looks over the city of Kyiv. 

About St. Volodymry from Saintapedia:  

Saint Volodymyr the Great (Old East Slavic: Владимѣръ Свѧтославичь; c. 958 – 15 July 1015), also known as Vladimir the Great or Saint Vladimir, was Grand Prince of Kyiv from 980 to 1015 and the ruler who officially adopted Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rusʼ in 988, earning him the title “Equal-to-the-Apostles.”

 Born the illegitimate son of Prince Sviatoslav I and Malusha, he seized power in 980 after civil war with his brothers, initially reigning as a pagan ruler who expanded Rusʼ territory and consolidated power.

 According to the Primary Chronicle and hagiographic tradition, after examining world religions and influenced by his grandmother Saint Olga and Byzantine diplomacy, Volodymyr accepted baptism in Chersonesos (Crimea) c. 987–988, married Byzantine princess Anna Porphyrogenita, and ordered the mass baptism of Kyiv’s inhabitants in the Dnipro River in 988.

Venerated from the 11th century as Equal-to-the-Apostles, Volodymyr was canonized by the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches without formal process; his feast is 15 July. Patron of Ukraine, Russia, baptisms, and converts, he is co-patron (with Saint Olga) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church.