Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

Did you get that job?

No, they said I had too much experience.

Too much?

And all of it was bad.

Driving by Bruce’s drive

I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: I’m a cog the size of a flyspeck in the radio world, but I know people. Ms. Lona is a friend of high-standing. She does a delightful radio show on KMSU titled, “Ms. Lona & Jazz Tonight.” My wife and I gathered with Lona, her husband Tim and their daughter Emily at the Cottage Cafe in Amboy to celebrate the birthday my wife shares with Tim. The Good Book tells us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Good thoughts and laughter abounded. Delicious mischief was consumed — in my case, it was bread pudding with raspberries.

Lona told the story of buying a box of chocolates for their mail carrier. That’s what my wife does, too. Life may be a box of chocolates, but our mail carrier knows what she’s getting for Christmas — a box of chocolates. Lona put the box of chocolates in the mailbox. Not long after that, she learned that Tim, not knowing the box was a gift, had eaten two of the chocolates. Lona saw the mail carrier drive up to the mailbox. She ran outside just as the mail car drove away. A pajama-clad Lona gave chase on foot, but the car didn’t stop.

Tim said there was an easy solution. Put two chocolates in the mailbox the next morning to replace the two he’d consumed. Instead, Lona left a note in the mailbox explaining the two missing chocolates.

The good news is they are still getting their mail.

Not many iguanas fall from trees in Minnesota

I was stuck here in January in the falling snow when I could have been in South Florida dodging falling iguanas on what would have been a shorts and sandals day in Minnesota. Iguanas fell from trees when temperatures dropped into the 30s and 40s. If iguanas were capable of talking, they’d have spoken then — once they’d thawed. They would have complained vociferously about the cold.

Dorothy said, “How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?” The Scarecrow replied, “I don’t know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?”

I’m one of those people they were talking about in the “The Wizard of Oz.” I was in a barbershop waiting to be clipped. The guy seated in the chair had a cast on his foot. He’d been pheasant hunting in North Dakota when he stepped into a hole and tore his Achilles tendon. I wished him a speedy recovery and added that I often saw pheasants carrying shovels.

Nature notes

Great horned owls sang a duet in the darkness surrounding my house. “Who’s awake, me, too,” they called back and forth. It was a breeding pair alternating calls, with the female’s voice recognizably higher in pitch than his, even though he’s smaller. Sometimes their hoots overlapped one another. Perhaps one was correcting the other as long-time married couples do. The owls were establishing boundaries for their breeding territory. They begin nesting in January or February, laying eggs in abandoned nests of squirrels, hawks, herons or crows, and deserted buildings, hollow trees or on cliff ledges. Eggs hatch in 30 — 37 days. Voles are sandwiches with legs for owls.

The intense cold and biting wind brought flocks of horned larks to the roadsides. The birds, sandy to rusty-brown above and white underneath, glean seeds from exposed ground.

A pileated woodpecker pair stays together on territory all year. Studies found a territory can be 125 to 1200 acres depending upon the type and quality.

A black-capped chickadee, the state bird of Maine and Massachusetts, hung upside down from a feeder. The tiny bird is strong and agile enough to do so with ease. Birds are stunningly astonishing and astonishingly stunning.

A number of readers have reported seeing flying squirrels feeding on sunflower seeds and suet. One correspondent puts out peanut butter for them. Red oak trees drop leaves. Squirrels gather the withered leaves for use as bedding and insulation. A hole in the snow turned out to be a red squirrel cave used as a subway system for safer traveling.

This is the time of the year when the interiors of cars parked in sunlight begin to warm. That’s a fine thing.

Meeting adjourned

“Life is mostly froth and bubble. Two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.”

— Adam Lindsay Gordon