Try an aebleskiver

ECHOES FROM THE LOAFERS’ CLUB MEETING

You know what they say about getting older?

No, what?

I don’t remember either.

 

DRIVING BY BRUCE’S DRIVE

I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me. I needed a good password. I always need one. I was trying to recall my maternal grandfather’s third cousin’s barber’s nephew’s stepdaughter's hyphenated name from her second marriage. I couldn’t remember it. Pity. It would have made a dandy password.

 

I met him in Colorado at a 60th wedding anniversary for people whom I didn’t know. It’s a long story. I could tell that the guy liked parties as long as he could maintain a position near the potato chips. His fingers tapped an impatient message on the table as he waited for the chip bowl to be refilled. He wore a “Pretty good. Not bad. I can’t complain.” T-shirt. I smiled and told him I liked his shirt and that I was a big fan of that song and the singer, John Prine. He said he didn’t know who that was and that he got the shirt at a thrift shop. Then the potato chip reinforcements arrived.

 

AEBLESKIVER

Aebleskiver are spherical Danish pancake balls. The name means "apple slices" in Danish, although slices of apples aren’t ingredients in present-day versions. They are delicious. Please try them if you’ve never had the pleasure of having your pancake roll off the table.

 

HOW THE LAKE GOT ITS NAME

I grew up along Mule Lake. The area had been settled by the Boardman brothers in 1857 and was called Le Sueur Lake. The lake was large then, and abundant in northern pike, wild rice and migrant ducks. The story goes that the Boardmans tried crossing the ice-covered lake with mules, but the ice was too thin, and a “fine span of mules” fell through and were drowned. Local folks called it Mule Lake after the incident. The lake was drained in 1914.

 

I’VE LEARNED

Science fiction has become nonfiction.

 

If it tastes just like chicken, it’s probably chicken.

 

The tallest buildings in Minnesota are all in Minneapolis. The Wells Fargo Center stands 775 feet high. The Capella Tower is a foot taller at 776 feet. The IDS Center is the tallest, adding equipment and antennas to its top to retain the title.

 

I miss video stores. There was drama in the aisles as families negotiated (argued).

 

I know members of a family that had 22 children—all single births. I don’t know if the parents had difficulty remembering all the names, but I know that I’d have had trouble counting them all.

 

I remember when excessive screen time was a giant wall of TVs in a retail store, meant to showcase the picture quality of various televisions.

 

BAD JOKES DEPARTMENT

Did you ever knock on someone’s door and then run away before they could answer? If so, UPS is hiring.

 

An alligator can live 50 years. There is a good chance that one will see you later.

 

Why is it spelled "camouflage" and not      ?

 

What has 5 toes and is not your foot? My foot.

 

NATURE NOTES

A gray catbird with a stubby tail fed on grape jelly, then did a jazz riff, and meowed like a cat before eating more. Why did it have a stubby tail? The bird didn’t want to talk about it, but I’m guessing it was a stress molt, during which it shed tail feathers to escape a predator.

 

Feathers re-grow rapidly when they’ve been pulled out. Tails are important but not critical. Tail-less birds can fly, avoid danger and feed themselves, but might have trouble getting a table in an upscale restaurant. It’s better than losing a tail in the winter. Catbirds aren’t here then, but nobody wants a cold rear end.

 

 In many turtles, warm temperatures during incubation create females and cold temperatures produce males. A friend, Gina Kemper, told me, “It’s hot chicks and cool dudes.”

 

Common mallard nest predators include skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, weasels, mink, snakes and large bird species. A nest success rate of 15% is a rule of thumb for maintaining a mallard population. Delta Waterfowl found that 90% of egg destruction is due to predation; the rest is because of weather events. Approximately 7.5% of eggs leave the nesting site as live ducks. The survival rate of those drakes is around 70% and about 60% for hens after one year.

 

Habitat loss is the most significant cause of declining songbird populations. A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report found that cats are the top human-related cause of bird deaths, with collisions with buildings/glass a distant second.

 

MEETING ADJOURNED

Zig Ziglar said, “Don’t judge me by my past. I don’t live there anymore.” Be kind.