Ordinary days

The weather was quite nice on Friday and Saturday as I worked the VC.  Not much exciting to report about those two days.  Saturday afternoon, I got a call at the VC from Bridget asking if I’d like to join her and John for a cookout after I got off of work.  Easy answer there… you betcha!  They had picked up some pineapple brats at a meat market in Frazee, and they wanted to compare them to the great pineapple brats they get near Branson, MO.  Turned out that they were nothing special, but who can pass up a chance not to cook after a hard (?) day at work?

Sunday is usually my day to do laundry since I don’t have to work.  I like to hang my wash out on the line to dry.  Not only for the fresh air smell, but it’s quicker than drying stuff in the Splendide washer/dryer.  Of course, since it was a day off, it rained off and on all day.  That made it a challenge to dry the clothes. 

                                                                            False Sunflower

While sitting outside with Emma this evening in between the showers, I thought I’d get some pics of the flowers blooming in my front yard.  Nothing else seemed to be going on.

                                                                  Common Tansy

I remembered these button-like blooms from last year.  It turns out they are an invasive species from Europe.  I do know that one of the biologists here spends a lot of time each year mowing them down before they seed to try to control their numbers on the refuge. 

Bull Thistle

According to my ‘Wildflowers of Minnesota’ book, the bull thistle seeds are a favorite food of American goldfinches.  Well, fancy that!  Right on cue, a male goldfinch showed up to dine for supper.  He eschewed the nearby Hard Rock Bird Café for more local cuisine. 

He went into some contortions to get just the right seed too.  I knew that goldfinches used thistledown to line their nests, but I’m thinking this guy was more interested in filling his belly than providing a soft place for his offspring.

I talked to both of my sons today, and it seems that Andy will not be able to bring the grandboys up for a weekend of camping and fishing.  I was looking forward to having them bustling about.  I’m a little bummed about that, but he’s starting a new pipeline job in a week, and won’t be able to get any time off.  Such is life.

Dan, on the other hand, wanted to know how the installation of my surround sound was going after he installed the new TV when he was here over the 4th of July.  Well, I’ve finally got all the wires and the receiver that are needed, but John Hatch and I have just not been able to get together to get everything installed yet.  I’ll have to work on that.  When John works, I have off, and when I work, he has off.  We’ll figure it out soon I hope.  He has the tools and know how, and I’ll just be a gopher. 

Whenever I’m at a refuge for some time, I try to hire an intern to wash and wax my rig.  This time one of the YCC (Youth Conservation Corp) kids has told me he is willing to do it.  He’s supposed to show up tomorrow to begin the work.  I’ll see how that goes.  More ordinary days are in store.  Life goes on…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy