Echoes from the Loafers’ Club meeting:

“I’m part Swede.”

“How can that be? I thought both of your parents were born in Sweden?”

“They were, but I have a lot of brothers and sisters.”

Driving by the Bruces

I have two wonderful neighbors–both named Bruce–who live across the road from each other. Whenever I pass their driveways, thoughts occur to me, such as: Anyone who says, “It is as easy as taking candy from a baby,” has never tried taking candy from a baby.

The herpetologist

Dennis Ferraro is a herpetologist at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Dennis said that when he was in grade school, his teacher asked the class what each of them wanted to be when he or she grew up. Kids wanted to be presidents, movie stars, firemen, cowboys, nurses, and other typical occupations that youngsters want to be. Not Dennis. He wanted to be a herpetologist. Dennis still remembers his teacher rushing to look up the word “herpetologist” in the dictionary.

Exercise or work?

Bruce Switzer of Burwell, Nebraska is a cattleman who has opened his 12,000-acre ranch to wildlife viewing and other outdoor activities. One of those activities is trekking. Trekking is a journey undertaken on foot in areas where motorized transport is generally not available. Unlike hiking, which can be strenuous, trekking is more for pleasure and exercise, although it could challenge one’s fitness. Bruce’s ranch is in the Sandhills. A region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska, the Sandhills cover about one-quarter of the state. Bruce told me that people pay him good money to walk across the Sandhills. He added that he was in the middle of the Sandhills one day when the loader he was using broke down. He walked home. Bruce said he wouldn’t have paid a cent for that walk.

Holy soap

I was staying in a hotel near Bloomington, Indiana. The soap in the bathroom was advertised as a green soap. The bar of soap had a large hole in the middle. The soap’s package read, “Innovative ergonomically shaped ‘waste reducing’ soap has been designed to eliminate the unused center of the traditional soap bars.” There was no animal fat used. The package was made of recycled material and the printing was in soy-based ink. Even with the hole in the middle, there will be slivers of soap. I think I might go into business selling soapholes.

Times are changing

The parking lot was busy. Folks were milling about a car. Flashlights were employed in the darkness. The hood was raised on what looked like a luxury car. I stopped. I thought that I might be able to add to the confusion. The car would not start. The consensus was that the battery was dead. Jumper cables were offered. The problem was that no one could find the battery. Do you know where your car battery is located?

Nature notes

Coyotes are the night clean-up crew. Each night, the coyotes venture onto our roadways and remove the road-killed critters. Many coyotes are shot and poisoned each year. Yet there are many coyotes. As anybody who has watched a Looney Tunes cartoon knows, Wile E. Coyote bought everything Acme manufactured in an attempt to catch the Road Runner. The devices never produced the desired results. Nevertheless, Wile E. Coyote wasn’t discouraged. Other coyotes are not quite as resilient as Wile E. Coyote, but nearly so. Even without the use of Acme Products, there are likely more coyotes now than ever before.