Minnesota – Page 4 – Valerie's Voice

Farm Animals

I never have given much thought to farm animals before I started feeding the amazing creatures at the farm where I help out about once a month. Often when I help out at this local farm, I tag along with their primary caretaker so I can keep current on the method to remember which animal gets what, and how much. Then, when the caretaker wants time away, I am solely responsible to feed the animals and get it right.

Farm quilt from the National Quilt Museum. January 2022

I agreed to help out this week long before I knew it would be so cold outside. I started worrying about how the animals survive during these days of frigid, subzero temperatures. I didn’t realize how much I have let these animals into my heart and care a lot about their welfare.

My favorites…the two horses, in May 2023. I didn’t take any photos of the animals on the frigid day in January.

I looked up how horses survive and I learned that horses grow a “new, longer hair coat. These winter hairs stand up, trapping tiny air pockets between them. The effect is like that of a thick, down-filled comforter with tremendous insulating quality.”*

Then I looked up how donkeys survive in the cold temps and it said donkeys should have a suitable shelter, a structure of at least three sides, and it should be free from draughts, and be waterproof.*

One of the two goats. I have a hard time telling them apart.
Photo from March 2022.

Finally, I looked up goats. For goats, they need a winter shelter that is dry and waterproof and out of the wind. Inside this shelter, the goats will stay warm even during the coldest weather.*

And that is how it played out the day I went to feed the animals on my own. The temperature managed to crawl to one degree above zero, but the windchill was 19 degrees below zero. Gary drove me out to the farm and provided a warming station (the truck) for me to tuck into between chores.

When we arrived I got out of our truck and was greeted by the farm dog, a cute little guy. He ran up to welcome me, and I gave him lots of pats and rubs, and he in turn gave me lots of excited tail wags.

Then I looked in on the cats and they were safely tucked inside an out building…I added food to their bowls and checked their water. I made sure the cat door was locked for the night.

Best buddies, and brothers. Photo taken July 2023.

When I arrived at the horse and donkey pens, sure enough, the horses were standing outside waiting for their dinner, and “the boys” (two donkeys who are brothers) were staying warm in their three-sided shelter. I petted them all, talked to them while parceling out their hay, and checked to make sure their water hadn’t frozen over.

At the goat pen, the two goats were also waiting for me in their shelter. I filled their food dishes and quickly placed them apart from each other before getting in the middle of the two hungry goats.

Last, but not least, the chickens were in the chicken coop, waiting for supper.

I really enjoy this little gig…I have always loved animals, but never had the chance to be around many farm animals. I’m grateful for this opportunity to care for them and to get to know them by name, and even talk with them!

*source of info: Wikipedia

P.S. I understand that this is fun for me because I do it occasionally. I pray for the caretaker who feeds and cares for the animals morning and evening, day in and day out, and on hot, sunny days and gray, subzero days!

Below Zero Temperatures

Not only are the outside temperatures below freezing, but they are below zero degrees Fahrenheit…with wind chills about -27 degrees, according to Alexa.

Looking out on our back yard from our living room window.

So what does one do in these subzero temperatures?

It would be a great time to go through the closets, or files, or piles of paper on desks…or to clean out the kitchen cupboards, or do some deep cleaning in the basement…

Did I do any of those?

Nope…

On this gray, cloudy, bitterly cold day we stayed inside. I turned on the oven and made some peanut butter cookies (using my mom’s recipe),

It’s been a long time since I made peanut butter cookies.

then curled up by the fireplace and read all afternoon.

And it was good.

Now, what will the coming week bring…it is supposed to be below zero all week…

FiftyNorth

We took a CPR class this week. It was offered at the senior center in Northfield. Although I hope to never have to use what we learned, it’s good to be refreshed on what to do, just in case. Our instructor was engaging and knowledgeable and the three hours went by quickly. We were able to practice on a mannequin to get the feel of just how much pressure you need to use when applying compressions. Little green lights lit up when you were doing it right. These features were not in place years ago…many years ago…when I last took a CPR class.

The electronic sign off the street, near Jefferson Avenue.

The senior center in Northfield, called FiftyNorth, is a vibrant one. There are numerous activities and classes to choose from, and many members.

The smell of coffee brewing and popcorn popping in the lobby is alluring. A jig saw puzzle on the table by the window was inviting, people were chatting in the lobby while sitting on comfortable sofas and chairs, a receptionist was there ready to greet you and answer questions. There are rotating art exhibits by local artists on the walls. I’m glad to be a member of this senior center, although I could make much more use of the facilities – I was more active prior to Covid.

The parking lot is usually full at this busy senior center.

After our CPR class, as we were walking out, we noticed Little Frida Café & Taco Shop, a small café in the dining room of FiftyNorth. It has limited hours – only open for breakfast and lunch, on weekdays, serving authentic Mexican fare. I had always wanted to try it, so we took this opportunity to order the lunch special. It was tasty! And so reasonable. Another hidden gem in Northfield.

The sign near the entrance of FiftyNorth.

I did have to get used the senior center’s name change to FiftyNorth a couple years ago, but now I like it and think it’s catchy, and a good fit.

Hiking

The grandkids have gone home and the Christmas decorations and beautiful Christmas tree have been taken down, and it feels too quiet in the house.

A brochure with a map was at one entrance to the trail.

Nature always offers healing energy and is good for the soul, so we have done some hiking to help move on and to take advantage of this mild December/January weather (and no ice).

Over the past few days, we have hiked at Big Woods Nerstrand State Park, walked the Dundas Trail and on paved paths in the north section of town, and hiked in the lower Carleton arb with the Faribo Flyers bike club. There is a lot of evidence of beaver activity along the river in the lower arb…well over 50 trees taken down.

Swirls of white snow and ice make pretty pattern on Heath Creek.

We also hiked on a trail in the St. Olaf College Natural lands. There is a well-defined, wooded trail that meanders along Heath Creek, and it is a hidden gem. The winter landscape is pretty for this time of year; there is light snow and ice forming patterns around the rocks in the creek, the forest floor is full of brown oak leaves. The water is flowing strong and you can hear the sound of the babbling brook as you walk along side it.

There are many mature oak trees on the trail, and some with unusual characteristics that is noticeable without its foliage. One has a branch growing straight out from the trunk, another tree has six sturdy trunks coming from one lone trunk. A very huge oak tree has fallen over the river…the enormous root system upended on one side of the creek, the trunk laying across the creek, and the upper part of the tree with its large branches on the other side of the creek…it almost could be a bridge across. (I couldn’t capture it on photo).

This oak tree has a branch growing out at a perpendicular level.

We had hiked this trail before, maybe a year ago, but now that we’ve rediscovered it, I think we will be hiking it more often.

I didn’t recognize this reddish tree. My app told me it was a red cedar.

It’s nice to have so many green spaces (natural spaces – as they are not so green in the winter) to access within such a short distance of Northfield. Each hike this week was enjoyable in its own way, and rejuvenating.

Good medicine for the soul.

Merry Christmas

Russian Matryoshka dolls (I bought in the Ukraine) depicting the Christmas story.

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2: 15-20

It’s Christmas…all over the world.

Christmas Cards

The “old-fashion” Christmas card is not as prevalent as they used to be. Many of us have started sending photo cards, which we find are easy to create (after a time when they were not so easy to create) and now are readily available.

For a while we slowed down on sending Christmas cards, but when the grandchildren came along we decided to make photo cards to share pictures of them with our family and friends (since I think they are the cutest grandkids in the world)!

A fun favorite this year since I’ve been helping to feed horses on a farm, and discovered a newfound liking for these beautiful animals!

But, there are still so many traditional and beautiful Christmas cards. I enjoy looking at the myriad of designs: from doves to the Christ Child, Snoopy to Santa, snowmen to Christmas trees. A relevant message inside is welcomed too.

Christmas cards are hard to throw away, however I can’t keep them either. I already have boxes of cards and letters I’ve received over the years…from Gary, family and friends.

A three- dimensional poinsettia on velvety card stock.

This Christmas card is unique with a wonderful picture and an Irish Blessing on front.

One way I extend the joy of Christmas cards is by using them as name tags on presents the next year. They really do dress up a package. This year I’m using the pictures from last year’s beautiful cards.

I enjoy using last year’s Christmas cards for this year’s gift tags.

It’s fun to see them again. This was not my idea. My mother did this when I was growing up, and so I’ve continued the practice.

I recently used the picture from a Christmas card to write out a recipe. I cut the card to the size I needed and wrote the recipe on the blank side, the back side of the picture. The recipe was requested from a Christmas brunch so it seemed fun and appropriate.

I’ve used blank sides of picture cards for sending notes to others, too.

I hope I can think of more ways to use these lovely cards.

Steensland Hall

The St. Olaf College campus is a beautiful place to walk. It has lots of sidewalks, mature trees and magnificent buildings to look at. I took a walk up there last week, planning to stop in at a holiday open house in the newly renovated (well, two years ago now) Steensland Hall.

Steensland Library (now Hall) was built on St. Olaf Campus in 1902. It was the third building to be built on campus. Old Main was the first in 1877, then the Ytterboe Dorm (originally called Men’s Dormitory) was built in 1901. Ytterboe was torn down to make room for the student center, Buntrock Commons, which opened in 1999. Both Old Main and the Steensland Hall are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Old Main, the first building built on St. Olaf campus – built in 1877.

Steensland Hall, a smaller, quaint, Neoclassical Revival-style building was built close to Old Main. It began as a library then morphed into several purposes over the years, after a new, larger library was built. Then, the Steensland library sat vacant from 2001 until its renovation in 2021.

An old card catalog sits in the lower level. It has the original library cards in it, but is no longer used.

It was renovated to house the Hong Kirekegaard Library…the largest collection of books (outside of Denmark) by and about the Danish philosopher Søren Kirekegaard. Scholars come to St. Olaf to do their research here, since the books cannot be checked out. The lower level provides cubicles for visiting scholars.

When I walked through the door, I was greeted by a former acquaintance from when I worked up on the hill. Her first words were, “There’s a blast from the past.” I smiled, and she took me on a tour.

Upstairs, which is the entry level, there are a couple of offices, many bookshelves, and a big round oak table in the middle, welcoming people to come and sit a spell, and enjoy the charming and inviting space.

The building has lots of windows, so it’s very light and bright inside. There is a beautiful glass dome in the ceiling which was damaged in the infamous 2006 hailstorm, but the restorer was able to find the original glass provider and acquire more glass to repair the dome.

The classroom in the lower level of Steensland Hall.

Of course, the building is now all up to code. There is an elevator, and a handicap assessable bathroom on the lower level, in addition to the work area cubicles, a classroom, and a small kitchen.

Student workers put together this creative tree from books, for the holiday open house.

I was glad to finally have a chance to go inside and see this small, little building that has so much character.

And I enjoyed a Christmas cookie too.

More Random Thoughts on Animals

We’ve had unseasonably warmer weather for this time of year (except for that one cold night in Duluth at Bentleville). It hit 54* yesterday. Gary went for a bike ride (my bike was put away for winter already) and I went for a long walk around the three ponds in our neighborhood.

This is one portion of the pond where hundreds of geese are facing the same direction.

This is a regular route and we often see wildlife. We’ve seen otters, and a beaver a couple years ago, a fox and frogs and such. However, the past few days the ponds have been clear of any wild life. I thought the Canadian geese and ducks had flown south. I guess not, they were back, in mass.

The geese in the pond from a different angle.

It was a beautiful sight, and a fun sight since they were mostly all facing the same direction…like they were waiting for a preacher to start preaching.

The beautiful Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault, Minnesota.

Which led me to thinking about a recent concert we went to at Our Merciful Savior’s Cathedral in Faribault Minnesota. We entered the church from the front and I liked what I saw.

The menagerie of stuffed animals taking up the front pew of this church.

The entire front pew was lined with all different sorts of stuffed animals…all looking towards the pulpit. I thought it was a clever way to fill the front row since so many of us head to the back of church to sit, but I found out after the concert, when we visited with the priest, that he keeps the stuffed animals up front for his children’s sermons.

Glass frog…photo off internet public domain

Then, as I continued walking along, I thought about an age-appropriate book I’ve been reading for our grandson. This adventure book talks about different animals in the Amazon rainforest. It introduced me to a glass frog. It is amazing (as all creatures are). This frog has a lime green, camouflage back with a translucent underside where you can see the organs inside its body! I had to look it up! I had never heard of this.

And sure enough, there is such a creature! And there are a couple of fun videos on the internet about the glass frog! I’ve added a couple of links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twAK29xwb6Q

The male glass frog also is the soul protector of the eggs and will ward off its predator, the wasp, with one swift kick of his very long leg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7zARByAu1c

Once again, I’m reminded “All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all” – unique, wonderful and amazing!

Lake Superior

Our trip to Duluth to see the Bentleyville “Tour of Lights” also provided an opportunity to witness some beautiful and interesting scenes of the magnificent Lake Superior.

Sand and snow on the shore of Lake Superior.

A sandy beach on Park Point, Lake Superior.

We arrived on a bright and sunny day. Except for an small accumulation of snow -remnants of a recent snowfall- the shores of Lake Superior look like an ocean beach. There were no tropical temperatures though!

As the sun set, the skies remained clear so we could see the full moon rise and shine (however, the clear skies kept the temperatures below freezing!)

Morning light: 6:39 am the next morning.

The next morning a cloud bank appeared over the lake.

The silhouette of a ship in the mystical misty fog rising from Lake Superior.

A freighter heading towards the canal in the early morning light.

I went out on the balcony, which faced north, to take a few photos. As I leaned over the balcony and turned to the east, I saw the stunning sunrise and images over the lake.

I’m not even sure how I captured this zoomed photo, but I like it.

I do so enjoy this lake! It’s very entertaining.

Where sky and sea meet on Lake Superior. This photo was taken at 9:10 am, a few hours after the beautiful orange, sunrise.

Bentleyville

Tucked into the middle of a string of mild November days, was one unseasonably, frigid night when the temperature dipped to 9 degrees with windchills of -11*. And that is the night we had arranged to tour Bentleyville “Tour of Lights” in Duluth, Minnesota. When planning this adventure weeks before, we had no idea we’d be walking through this spectacular Christmas light display in freezing temperatures.

The full moon and the tall, center tree of Bentleyville, which changes colors constantly. photo by ta.

We packed all our warm winter gear and headed up to northern Minnesota. We had reserved a hotel room within walking distance of Bentleyville. It was a clear night with a beautiful full moon.

The full moon rising over Lake Superior (11/27/23, 5:33 pm)

As we left our hotel, the temperatures were dropping, and the winds were picking up, and we could feel the strong, freezing wind gusts (17 miles an hour).

We entered Bentleyville through this tunnel of lights.

But we did it! We walked to the event. We walked all around the event in the cold. And we had fun, and felt a sense of accomplishment too. Bentleyville is an impressive place. Explore Minnesota informs that Bentleyville is America’s largest free walk-through (Christmas) lighting display.

Bentleyville was celebrating its 20^th anniversary. Nathan Bentley started the “Tour of Lights” in 2003 at his farm outside of Duluth. Each year he added more and more lights. It grew bigger and better every year, and of course, became more popular. Duluth’s Mayor invited him to move his display to the Bayfront Festival Park in 2008, and so he did.

One of my favorite light displays…there were many!

Another favorite: This ornament was stunning.

As we walked through tunnels of lights looking at all the different theme displays, cheerful Christmas music was playing making it even more festive…we could hardly mind the frigid temperatures.

This tunnel had pretty blue icicle lights.

Free cocoa, cookies and popcorn were handed out. There were fire pits burning in different places, but because the wind was so strong it was hard to get warm, even next to the fire.

One of the many fire pits around Bentleyville.

We did snap a few pictures, but quickly put our mittens back on…the fingers got cold very fast!

Because it was so cold outside, there was no line to see Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus.

Back at the hotel we took off our many layers of jackets and scarves, hats and mittens, and made ourselves some hot chocolate and sat by fireplace in the lobby. We felt invigorated, while warming up by the cozy fire.

A Viking Ship. So many displays including: a manger scene, the Duluth lift bridge, dinosaurs, Disney characters, sea creatures, and much more. I can’t even begin to describe how many lights displays there were.

We can say we had merry time in spite of the freezing temps – which just made it more memorable. We’re hardy Minnesotans after all!