Echoes from the Loafers’ Club meeting
"What is this?"
"It’s oatmeal."
"I ordered pancakes."
"I know, but you can’t always get what you want."
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: dinosaurs thought they were too big to fail.
I’ve learned
1. Studies have shown that researchers have too much time on their hands.
2. If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat the class.
3. A careful driver is one who slows down when he sees another pulled over by a police officer.
Talking baseball
Rod Searle of Waseca told me that he saw Babe Ruth hit a home run at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Rod shared an interesting thing said by Halsey Hall, the former Twins announcer. Halsey said that if a pitcher strikes out the first batter to start a game, that pitcher wouldn’t win the game. I’ll never see Babe Ruth hit a home run at Shibe Park, but I’ll be keeping an eye on that first batter.
Dave Smith researched MLB records from 1930 to 2003. He found that teams that entered the ninth inning with leads won 95 percent of the time.
Those thrilling days of yesteryear
We climbed into the man’s truck to head to the field. The vehicle had a knob on the steering wheel. We rode on the open tailgate of the pickup truck. One child rode inside the cab. He was the only one of us kids older than the truck. I know that some of you think that riding on the tailgate was dangerous. It would have been for the average kid, but the man had taught us the tuck and roll.
Devils Lake
Clarence Holm of Delano and I were discussing Devils Lake in North Dakota. Clarence said that some of the best fishing spots on that lake are where the expanding water had covered roads. I visited Devils Lake, a gigantic lake that has expanded enough the last 20 years to swallow 164,000 acres of farmland. The impetuous lake caused roads to disappear and instigated buyouts of two towns (Penn and Churchs Ferry). Devils Lake is part of what was Lake Agassiz, a glacial lake larger than the five Great Lakes combined. Since 1992, Devils Lake has risen more than 29 feet and grown from 69 square miles to 285. While this has caused tremendous problems for the citizens of the area, it has been a blessing for fishermen. The high water created thousands of acres of habitat for fish. Flooded buildings, farm equipment, rock piles, and roadbeds provide homes for game fish.
I drove alongside Devils Lake on soft roads that were underwater in spots. Wind-driven lake water splashed my windshield. A football field had become part of the lake. Fishing boats rode waves that had once been waves of grain.
Pitching
I pitched chicken waste out the window of the henhouse into a manure spreader. Later, the manure spreader was used to spread the manure onto a farm field. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Cleaning the henhouse was a dreadful job. The ammonia in the henhouse was so thick that it was like walking into a gigantic bottle of Mr. Clean. The ammonia made my eyes run, my nose run — even my ears ran.
I pitched so much stuff out the window of that henhouse that I could barely maintain a hold on the pitchfork.
Major League Baseball concerns itself with the pitch counts of its hurlers.
My father didn’t give a rip as to what my pitch count was.
Nature notes
Red foxes favor cultivated fields, meadows, brushy fence lines, woody riparian regions, and shrubby places. They resemble small, slender dogs. Fox size is generally overestimated because the fur masks a slight bone structure. Red foxes are red with the face, top of head, and neck showing yellow or orange. The tail is reddish-black with a white tip. The sides of the ears, lower legs, and feet are dark, while the chest, belly, and insides of the ears are creamy white. Gray foxes prefer brushy or forested habitats and are skilled tree climbers. It’s confused with the red fox because the gray has rusty-red fur on its ears and neck. It’s gray with the darkest color extending along the back to the end of the tail. The belly, throat, and chest are whitish. A gray fox appears smaller than a red fox because of shorter legs and stockier body. Compared to red foxes, grays have shorter muzzles and ears.
Meeting adjourned
Be kind to people you don’t like.