Dinner table musings

My mom, Sweet Adeline, was a stay-at-home mom, as were most of the mothers living on our block in Austin. One of her biggest chores was to feed three growing, always hungry, boys. She was the casserole queen, making tuna hotdish, goulash, and tater tot hotdish. On Sundays it was always a beef roast or Hormelcure 81 ham. Mashed potatoes and vegetables rounded out the meal. She was a master at doing many different things with Jello. Pancakes were another frequent favorite; Dad made a point of rationing the bacon or little sizzlers so each boy got an equal share. 

 

Supper was always on the table at 5:30 pm. During the summer dad always made us sit and digest our food for 15 minutes when the meal was finished. Neighborhood friends never understood how important it was to sit and digest your food. Daily they would knock and beat on the back door, trying to get our attention to come play kick the can. During the school year, each of us had to stay at the table after supper and share with Mom and Dad what we’d learned in school. I don't remember any of us ever sharing a school story with great enthusiasm. I guess it will always be the teacher, educator in me: I hope you always learn something when you choose to read my bits and pieces, this and that, and abstract random musings. 

 

It's fall, there is a special scent in the air, and a new crisp feeling to the breeze. Leaves are turning their brightest colors and the migration to a warmer climate is now in full swing. 

I enjoy watching birds during the fall; a special element is the arrival of birds I haven't seen all summer. Thousands of swallows arrive on the lake shores in late September. They start out earlier than most because they want to make sure plenty of insects are still around for them to eat; The need the energy for the long journey ahead. I had a spectacular drive coming back from the cabin one afternoon. Thousands of swallows were sitting lined up on the powerlines for a couple miles. A number of hummingbirds were using the feeders at the cabin the third week in September. They didn’t stay long after that, hedging their bets that the flower gardens would soon fall victim to the first frost.

 

White birds of all sizes are now seen everywhere in Waseca, the seagulls and terns have arrived. When I go to Walmart to shop, I slow down to see the seagulls perched on the roof of the Grand Stay hotel. It's as if the head seagull taught them to line up perfectly on the gray, freshly creamed, rooftop. 

 

Seagulls have now also taken over the lawn in front of the high school, and the ball diamond grass next to the swimming pool. Those large areas are ideal for hunting grasshoppers and other insects

 

On a drive down the highway, you may observe a farmer plowing and thousands of gulls and terns following the turned up earth fiesting on worms and other dirt inhabitants. 

 

Clouds of birds now fill the skies. Many of them are black in color and fill trees, marshes or sloughs in the evening.

 

Many people who enjoy their bird feeders can now share stories about birds they haven't seen all summer. Birds are making short stops in backyards so they can build up energy for the long journey home.

 

The coots, also called mudhens, are observed in tight-knit groups on Clear Lake. You won't see them flying south. Coots are poor flyers, and only migrate in the dark of night. 

 

Time to learn something…. Adult loons migrate together, not with their young. They migrate  from northern breeding lakes to southern coastal and ocean waters. Some even begin migrating as early as late August. The juveniles follow about a month later and can be observed together in large rafts on lakes. 

 

Maybe the juveniles team together to find young friends and possibly a friend to make a family with… 

 

Most people know the monarchs’ migration story, that they head to forests in central Mexico. We all know we can find its caterpillars on milk weed, or find them as a chrysalis, and then check on them regularly to see them turn to an orange and black adult; if they are among the last of the summer to emerge, new adults take to the sky and fly south. Each fall the huge green darner dragonfly migrates across North America in small groups, sharing skies with the monarch. 

 

Monarchs need flowers on their journey, but green darners need wetlands and small insects to eat on the way. Green darners spend much of their life cycles in the water. They can emerge from the water as an adult in the north, or as an adult in the south. What an interesting life flying one way north, or one way south. 

 

The next time you are in your lawn chair on a beautiful autumn day, make sure your eyes are constantly on the skies. You may observe a squadron of four-winged, three-inch, blue darner dragonflies flying high and powering their way south. You've just witnessed a dragonfly migration!