Day in the Life of an Idiot

 I love my friends, I really do. But, apparently, when I explain this project to people I am not terribly clear that what I am looking for in a State Park for Mason and I is not the roads that take a person TO a State Park, but the roads INSIDE the State Park. So, today when I was chatting with my Friday Zoom friends and one of them mentioned Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, my brain went "Ooooo.". Thanks to some of the other recommendations I've gotten and the fact that I've never been there before, I thought: GREAT! That's where we'll go today.  


Image: hidden fall in the park.

Don't get me wrong. It's an incredible park.

It's just that when Mason and I switched seats at the entrance? We drove about a half a block straight into the parking lot. There are no other roads. Technically we could have driven around the campgrounds, but it's also a very small loop. 

Mason, being an amazingly good sport, rolled with this and went on hike with me.

The park is a tough one because it's being heavily impacted by climate change, but we still had a lovely walk and even encountered a bird-shaped friend!  Calling all birders!  Squint at the picture below and you'll see a bird in this road. A plover of some kind perhaps? Google (and the list that the DNR has of possible options at this State Park) makes me think American Woodcock or Wilson's Snipe is actual the better guess. But, my bird fu is very, very low. So, if you know with more certanity, please let me know!


Image: trail bird

Despite driving an hour to drive for one second, we had a great time. Mason and I even made a stop on the way back to St. Paul at a Dairy Queen and had a little ice cream treat. A good day, just not one for Mason getting much driving in.

 The lake weekend was wonderful. I spent a lot of time, unplugged, staring out at our friends' garden watching the hummingbirds.  I managed to get a good picture of one:




Now it's the regular week and I'm trying to get back into the groove of things.  Today I took Mason back to Washington; he had a robotics planning meeting.  They're starting to look forward to next year, and there is some talk of a demonstration and/or competition of some kind at the State Fair.  (I can only be as clear and detailed as my son was to me, so that means: not very.)

Tomorrow, we are headed to the DMV to see if Mason can pass the written test and get his learners' permit.  He just took an official practice test and got a 90%. So, fingers crossed he can repeat that under pressure.

Otherwise, I'm trying to decide if I want to catch any Fringe shows this year. Last year, I went to see my friend naomikritzer do her thing and so I am now on the Fringe's mailing list. A lot of the people I know in SF/F fandom are also theater geeks, so a number of people I know are involved one way or another in Fringe... and some of their shows seem pretty interesting. Plus, it was fun to hit a show last year and I'm wondering if I should pick one or two and do it again this year. Since my family isn't up for it, I've found it easiest to pick a late night show and go.  

One year, I'd love to invest in a VIP pass and go to as many as I can fit in, in the week.

Meanwhile, I've been catching up on correspondence and enjoying not having as crazy a work schedule as I did last month. Tonight, for instance, I was able to make pot stickers (a family favorite) and not have to dash out the door to go to Roseville or some other place.  I've been working a LOT of Monday nights this last month and it almost feels weird to be sitting at home.

I haven't been feeling like writing ANYTHING lately, but I suspect that will pass. I think my brain is just doing a little 'reset' post-class. I got my evaluations from the Loft. Most are glowing or non-descriptive, but I had one comment that's been haunting me. Someone wrote on the "things you wish there were more of in class" section. "There was no freedom." I have no idea what that means in this context.  I, of course, have been spending many waking hours trying to puzzle it out. The best I can figure is that I very much teach in lecture-style. It's possible that this student was hoping to get up and move more.  Or perhaps my structure was too repetitive?  I did have people write via prompts, but I always said that you could use any writing time as free writing, so....?

This will now be the mystery that occupies my life.

In an effort to get Mason to do something other than rot his brains playing video games over his spring vacation, he and I went birding with a group this morning as part of the 2011 Birding Festival. The ironic part of this is that no matter how much "enrichment" stuff I do with him during vacation, he'll end up telling his teacher that he spent his vacation watching TV and playing games.

Sigh.

Anyway, if you're reading this Ms. H., at 8:00 am, we showed up at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary with other stalwart folks and our grandfatherly guide, Julian. I'm not a big birder, as it were, but I do love hanging out with people who know what they're doing. Julian was one of those people who could identify various bird songs and tell us what we were looking for (or looking at.) We saw cormorants, Caspian turns, Balitmore orioles, American goldfinch, green herons, spotted sandpipers, Tennessee warblers, common yellow-throated warblers, and a bunch of stuff I can't remember any more, alas. There was one bird, in particular, I wish I could remember the name of -- it had a gorgous red/orange and black tail that it liked to spread out. It was a relatively small bird, but Mason and I just happened to be right underneath it and got a good look at the tail.

There were also a bunch of swallows of one kind or another darting about, along with red wing black birds, as this area was a bit marshy and wet. Even though Mason got a bit bored whenever the birders stopped to stare at the trees (which, of course, was the point of the whole excursion), I think I talked him into trying another outing tomorrow. There are two that seem promising -- one at Como at 8:00 am again and another over in Minneapolis at 10:00 at the Roberts Bird Sanctuary. Mason said he wanted to try the later one, since there was a lot of yawning associated with this one. The weather this morning wasn't that great either, though we missed the drizzle by about 20 minutes.

I actually really enjoy wet hikes as long as I have my head covered. I had both a hoodie and a ball cap, so I was nice and snug for the walk. So equiped, I find I really kind of enjoy cold, wet meanders. Of course, I bought coffee, too, so I was well caffinated, which improves the mood considerably.

With any luck, we'll have a little sunshine for tomorrow's hike.

Also, for those keeping track of the various mentions of Resurrection Code, Cheryl Morgan let me know that she mentioned my book briefly (and very positively) at the very end of her post at Salon Futura.

Tonight is kuk sool wan for Mason and I. I'm looking forward to it. Jo Kyo Nim tells me that I will get to pick up *MY* testing form tonight, so that means Mason's reign as ruling yellow belt of the house may soon be over. Bwah ha ha ha HA!

Oh, yes, let's see if the picture feature is working better today. Here's the testing. You can just see Mason's head in the front row. That's Sa Bum Nim leading the exercises:



Here's Mason receiving his new belt:



At home showing off the new belt in dragon stance: