A Day Off

Yesterday was gorgeous–74 degrees or so and sunny.  A perfect fall day.  I kept telling myself, since  I was trapped inside grading papers all morning and most of the afternoon, that it was actually a little too warm to work in the gardens.
Instead, I worked online down at the coffee shop–the furnace guys were here [...]

Lately…

I’ve been tempted to post an “out of office” note here–though knowing my own tendencies I would likely begin blogging three times a day simply because I said I wasn’t going to.  Instead of that, I’ll just say posts may be a bit more sporadic for an indeterminate length of time (and yes, I know [...]

Autumn on the Vermillion

Since I got that great anti-pull harness for the dog, I’ve been able to take walks without the guilt that hits if I leave her behind.
Cotton Park Trail along the Vermillion River is beautiful this time of year–and almost completely empty.  I’ve seen a total of two people in my recent walks–most days I see [...]

Testing…

An attempt to de-couple my blog from Facebook. I’ll still link to posts, but you’ll have to come here to read them!

Autumn FAIL

I woke up at 4:30 this morning, after a sleepy little boy padded down the hall to use the bathroom and then a sleepy big guy also woke up to use the bathroom.  I’m actually not that light a sleeper except during the hours of 4-6 a.m.  At that time of the morning, if anyone [...]

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

While domestic violence and domestic abuse can happen to anyone, women are most often the victims.  And while October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, it’s a good idea to talk about domestic abuse as well–because it is often harder to spot, even for the victim.
Domestic abuse, also known as spousal abuse, occurs when one [...]

Fall Frustrations

Out on the wide unused highways north of Watertown, where the big power poles slingshot across the prairie, there are signs for Titan Machinery and “Your Ag Chemical Superstore.”
I look out at the brown fields stretching along the interstate corridor–scalped beanfields and drying-down corn, and I wonder if we’ve forgotten a place for people in [...]

Heading for the Coteau

At the last minute, I had a change of scheduling with M so that he’ll be up north for Summit’s annual celebration of how crazy their weather is (a.k.a. Fog Fest) this weekend and down here for a longer weekend to celebrate USD’s homecoming (with parade and chili cook-off) and Native American Day (Columbus Day [...]

Spirit Mound Hike

Last night at a party, a friend confided to me that she was so sick of canning and preserving, she just wanted to die.  I thought that might be a little dramatic until this morning, when I started going through the tomatoes in the house and realized I have about 3/4 of a box that [...]

Breaking Down

The gardens are starting to fade, and it’s time to start cleaning up and practicing good field sanitation.
I’m going to burn all the nightshade family residues this year–the tomato vines, pepper and eggplant, potatoes.  There are a few trellises of tomatoes that are far enough gone from a variety of fungal diseases that the process [...]