Sassy Is One of Those Exotic Creatures

Have you seen a murmuration of starlings,
where they weave patterns in the sky by constantly changing group flight patterns?
We watched during a church picnic, transfixed by the ever-changing shapes created.

I lost track of the Facebook page on jeweled spiders from Australia, with some remarkable photos in the article.

I decided to Google the images and could not find anything close to the article, so I wondered if it was a hoax. I could find the category and examples, but they did not look like walking stained glass windows - except for the one photo of a jewelry case in the shape of a spider.

Nothing would surprise me about exotic animals, especially those in Australia, where they seem to be larger, more colorful, and more dangerous than anywhere else except Africa. They even have giant earthworms in Australia.

Everyone loves the Sassy grin.

Sassy is learning her Australian culture, since she is half Australian Cattle Dog, bred from the tough little dingo wild dog of that continent. We sing Waltzing Matilda and the Cattle Dog Blues in the car. That proved useful when we were waiting for tires at Goodyear. Two customers became very interested in her behavior and three legs, so we sang the Cattle Dog Blues, with Sassy howling the chorus. They loved it so much that Sassy pawed my leg to get the second verse going, where she howled again. She loves attention. The customers wrote down the Sassy blog's name so they could look it up later.

When she begins yipping in a high-pitched voice, we chide her about "going full Kelpie." That is another name for the Cattle Dog - Kelpie. When she hears that Kelpie name, she really sounds off.

She used that call to get the Helper family out of their house. Mrs. Helper asks for the happy bark when we stop by. Sassy responds with her German Shepherd voice, a very loud but lower pitched bark, sent left and right for full coverage. "There's that happy bark!" And she barks some more. In contrast, the Kelpie yip is high pitched and penetrating, one sharp warning or alert.

She yips if anyone tries to pick her up or comes close to stepping on her. She is especially sensitive because of her amputation and recuperation, but she is also quite the drama queen.

She is one of those homegrown exotics that people often overlook. Sassy is unusually smart and independent, cleverly working on us to understand to her way of doing things. I just asked her to move over on the bed, so she rolled over for loveys. If Mrs. Ichabod does not join in pettting her, Sassy looks back to get a second person petting her at the same time. She grins about this because her independent actions makes us laugh each time.

Butterfly Weed is related to Milkweed, named Asclepias for the healing properties of this family.

I am hoping that Butterfly Weed will grow in my yard. I planted some along the fence. In time they should show themselves. The attracts butterflies in general but also helps other plants - a companion plant.

Once upon a time Milkweed was common, and so were Monarch butterflies. Now people are wishing for more butterflies and worry about the loss of the Monarch.

I think I spotted some local Milkweed on my walk. A stand of them would support some Monarch caterpillars, but I doubt one plant in the sidewalk crack will do it.

Here the Monarch, in his jade coffin with golden nails. The wing markings are visible. Shortly before he was a fat caterpillar with none of this coloring - no gold frills. I am not going to get jeweled spiders in my yard, but I can raise these and even hatch them in a glass jar, as I did years ago in New Ulm.

No one is sure if the golden nails have a function. I consider it showboating by the Creator. If you ever doubt the power of the Creating Word, look at what He does with with a homely caterpillar that dines on milkweed sap.

Sunflowers

By Norma Boeckler

Mammoth sunflowers are also called Russian and striped. These make great eating for humans after roasting in the oven, but birds and squirrels like them raw. They are one of the most nutritious products of the garden.

Most people use black oil sunflowers for bird food. The seeds can be planted, too, since they are least expensive in big bags.

I used to buy mammoth sunflower seeds in large packages from Harris Seeds. Larger packages are hard to resist.

This seed disk is not unusual. In New Ulm  I left the stalks up all winter so the birds could perch on them while winter foraging. They like to be just above the ground to look for food. The plant slowly rots into the soil. The decay feeds the soil creatures, especially earthworms, enriching and loosening the soil.

Flowers and Fibonacci Numbers

Long before the spirograph drawing toy, God created the same patterns in sunflower seed rows. The topic of Finonacci numbers is fascinating by itself.

This plant is only six feet tall but the seed disk is gigantic. The sunflower is a compound bloom, so each flower-let needs pollinating. The bees enjoy helping out, so there is quite a show to watch. The plant itself hosts plenty of visitors, so birds may land to feast on bugs chewing the leaves or hiding in the shade.

Sunflowers are often used as a temporary wall, an inexpensive way to provide privacy or shade. Unlike bamboo, sunflowers will not spread and occupy the entire lawn. Children like to hide in a fortress created with four walls of sunflowers.

Biggest sunflower disk contest:

Children like to see who can grow the biggest sunflower. Each plant needs plenty of space around it and as much sun as possible.

For extra growth, dig a hole first and fill it with compost, manure, or organic material. Put the best soil on top and plant the seed there. Once the plant begins, use dead grass, leaves, or newspaper to create mulch, which will hold in moisture, shade the root zone, and feed the soil creatures. Earthworms love newspaper roofs over their heads.

Sunflowers need plenty of water. They are as needy as corn and pumpkins. Their leaves will droop when they need more moisture. Water is the way they take up minerals from the soil, so that will give them more growth and bigger disks. Solar energy draws the moisture out while feeding the plant. Photosynthesis is a wonder we take for granted each day.

Mr. Squirrel Smiled at Me. Squirrels 11, Humans 0

I was looking for snack food at Sam's Club and saw an enormous bag of peanuts in the shell. I thought that might be fun to eat, a little at a time. Once home, I was tempted to put a few peanuts on the window ledge.

Every so often I put a few out and closed the window. Birds and squirrels quickly adapt to random food and come looking for it. Soon I had three small squirrels stopping by to look for food. Sassy Sue got used to the traffic.

I was careful to open the window a little bit, push some peanuts out, and close it again. I was concerned about the squirrel getting into the room, revving Sassy, and racing around the house in a panic. I was even more concerned about my wife's reaction to such an event and the inevitable growth of the tale afterwords.

I saw a lot of squirrel traffic one day, so I edged the window up an inch. Just as I pushed a peanut out, a squirrel came by and grabbed it. The saucy little thing sat on the ledge and ate it, smiling. The picture above is not mine. I really saw the squirrel smile.

They are all laughing at me. I got the squirrel-proof bird feeder to prevent them from looting the seed. I added the baffle for $13.50 to keep them from climbing the pole, once they learned to get at the feeder and pump the bar. Soon they stood on the baffle to pump the bar.

This squirrel is demonstrating how to use the bar to jiggle seed.
Why sit on it and close off an abundant supply of sunflower seeds?

I let the worthless baffle slip down to the ground. Now the squirrels climb the pole, hold on with one front leg, and pump the bar with the other front leg. I have also seen them pump the bar with both front legs. Rather that keep them from eating, the bar serves to jiggle seed into their mouths.

They are more entertaining now. First the bar jiggle is fun to watch. Squirrels are athletic and inventive. They can get at the feeder from every angle. The second part is fun, too. They get a few seeds, jump over to the ledge, and eat while keeping an eye on me while I work or watch.

A chipmunk has climbed up to the ledge to eat, but he simply stuffs his mouth with as many seeds as possible, and leaves. He must have figured out that the ledge was more productive than the ground where he got the scattered seed.

Sassy Sue's window is next to me and behind the bed. She parks at the window and watches over her neighborhood. She is quite upset when a chipmunk comes up to the secondary feeder below her window. She also watches for the fox that seems to appear from time to time. Then Sassy bays like a German Shepherd, "The fox is here, come to kill us all." The Shelties join the chorus, "Kill us all. Kill us all."

Treasure smiles when she is looking for food,
for attention she lifts up one front paw.

If the UPS truck drives up, Sassy bays again, "The UPS driver is here, come to kill us all." The Shelties add to the noise. "All, All. He will kill us all."

If someone rings the bell and waits for me, Sassy runs to the door and barks at it, warning whoever is ringing that she will defend the entire house. She races to me, "Hurry. Hurry. You open the door. I will attack at once." I open the door and Sassy wiggles outside for petting and a greeting. Everyone loves her at once.

At the dog park I warn people that she is loud but gentle. The only problem has been with large, intimidating dogs. I have decided to leave when a pit bull is present. Those dogs are gifted with muscle and no brain.

Sassy is just starting to learn dog racing. Most breeds love to chase around the park, but they cannot catch a ball or bring it back. One mutt spent about 30 minutes deciding what a ball was before stealing Sassy's. The bright orange ball is magical to the other dogs, because Sassy catches it, gets applause, and brings it back while everyone talks about her. The dogs ignore 10 balls on the ground for Sassy's magical toy.

Sassy Sue watches me while I work, clamping down on my
right arm when she wants attention.
When I give up, she rolls over and laughs.
"Tummy rub time."

Danielle Greets Sassy Sue by Name. Squirrel Defies Baffle Again, In Spite of Trimmed Bush

Sassy Sue and I had to do some banking, so we stopped at Dairy Queen. Danielle was there to give us a large vanilla cone and greet us. Danielle looked up this blog. I thought I mentioned her in the last post, but that was probably something I published on Facebook.

We went to DQ for Father's Day on Saturday. Danielle met most of our son's family and said to Martin, "I see your father three times a week." He said, "Dad!" as if I would feel guilty. Three is just when I see Danielle. Others are there at different times.

DQ is relatively low in carbs, and I avoid the candy extras, like those Blizzards (invented in my hometown of Moline).

Those Saucy Squirrels
It was bad enough to see the squirrel use my $15 baffle to rest his leg while eating from my squirrel-proof bird-feeder. He used the bush for his other leg. My solution was to trim the bush away, leaving him no access from the bottom.

The next time I saw him on the roof of the bird-feeder, hanging down and using the bar to open and close the feeder, shaking seeds into his greedy mouth.

My failures include:
1. The feeder itself, because he climbed up and held onto the pole with one arm while manipulating the bar with the other one.
2. The baffle, since he used it as a footstool to reach the feeder and shake seeds into his mouth.
3. The bush-trimming, which only forced him to land on top the feeder and hang down while using the bar to shake sunflower seeds loose.

Note this link I am putting on the permanent list. If you like watching God's Creation, the photos and stories are excellent.

Mr. Squirrel Gets Artificial Corn

I was going to write about early spring feeding when the blizzard hit, 24 inches of snow in the Sunny South, Arkansas!

To keep my costs low and the suet available, I buy the little blocks of suet at Walmart for 90 cents each. They have prices that go up to $1.30 for each square, but those have delicacies in them, like blueberry chunks and seed blends. The lowest cost ones have a little bit of cheap seed, probably millet.

I loved the huge blocks of peanut-enhanced suet from Duncraft. Sassy Sue (the wonder dog) followed me around and licked them before I put them up. The last two were stolen in less than 24 hours, so I gave up on them. Previously, they attracted lots of birds, including bluebirds. I also give them credit for attracting the pileated woodpecker, which I saw twice.

My favorite view window now has two little baskets of suet on the left side, one hanging from the other. In the middle is the squirrel-proof feeder from Duncraft, full of sunflower seeds (about 50 cents a pound, Walmart). On the right side is a reconstituted corn cob on a squirrel feeder.

I bought the reconstituted corn on a whim. A bag of two cost $7, about the price of a bag of crumbling field corn cobs, while last only a few minutes on the feeder. I have two spiked feeders, so the package looked reasonable if they lasted.

Mr. Squirrel was not happy about the change from all-natural to Portland cement. There were some initial tastes but not much action. After about a month, the tasting turned to feeding. My wife asked, "What is that gnawing sound?" Mr. Squirrel was chewing the corn away, slowly. I figured it was good for his teeth. So far both corns have lasted a long time and served the tree rodents well.

Before the corn diet started, Mr. Squirrel used the suet basket as his personal ice cream cone. The weather was still quite wintery. To get some extra calories, he held one basket in his paws and licked it for a long time. Yesterday I found him on his back, licking the basket from the bottom. How did he keep his balance? He hooked one hind paw into the screen, which made him quite secure.

Suet is very popular and thrifty for pleasing a lot of birds, not to mention squirrels and raccoons. We have birds feeding on the suet all day long, and a 90 cent block lasts around one month. Many species eat suet. We see a few starlings, various woodpeckers, and bluebirds.

I was looking into mealworms for bluebirds, whether live or fried or cooked into suet. Duncraft has confused mealworms with caviar, charging the same price for them. A container of live mealworms is around $40. When I dye my hair blue and go to Paris every spring, I will spend that much on worms. Until then, no dice.

We no longer have four male cardinals feeding at the same time, as they did during the last blizzard. But we are seeing a male and a female around the feeder. Cardinals are claiming their territory by singing. That is one of the benefits of God's Creation. The males claim territory with their beautiful songs, which translate into English as, "This is my yard. This is my mate. Come close and I will fight you off."

The male cardinal will feed the female from the sunflowers as part of the mating ritual. It is quite a sight.

The variety of birds is improving as they get used to a steady supply of dry, fresh sunflower seeds. The bird seed companies charge far too much for millet, which is either wasted or eaten up fast as a junk food. Black oil sunflower seeds need to be cracked open.

The cardinals open the seeds by chewing with their powerful beaks, so the birds stay on the perch and eat, with a droll expression on their faces. Chickadees and other small birds need to peck the seed open, so they usually carry the seed to a branch, hold it in their claws, and hammer down with their beaks to open and eat.

Sassy Sue always go out to feed the birds with me. She usually plays tag with the neighbor's dogs, but yesterday he went over to greet another neighbor. She is so friendly and smiley that everyone loves to see her and pet her.

Iced Orange Water - A Refreshing Treat

Orange blossoms create a beautiful perfume wherever they grow.

All sugared sodas are little more than corn syrup plus water, flavor, and bubbles. Obese children can probably thank their parents for getting them used to lots of soda, which turns to instant fat and really spikes hunger pangs. Popcorn is similar, adding fat to the mix.

Diet soda is not an  answer to sugared soda, since it loaded with questionable stuff to make it seem sweet. Many argue that artificial sweeteners are worse than corn syrup. I love the taste of diet A and W root beer, but I find it oddly un-refreshing, no matter how much I drink. Diet soda is not on my list.

Years ago, I drank enough Coca Cola to make withdrawal difficult. I began de-tox with orange juice, which was also another big slug of sugared water. Dieticians frown on orange juice.

I discovered that the best and most refreshing drink consisted of orange slices in iced water. I cut half an orange into little pieces, which can be eaten later. The orange bits add flavor and a slightly sweet taste to the water. Mrs. Ichabod and I both love this drink.

Lemons are good, but their staying power in water is not impressive. They get an odd taste after a few hours, unlike oranges. Limes have great flavor, but they are often rather dry and hard. Lemons and limes seem to shrink to pebbles in the fridge, at an alarming rate. I like lemons and limes in theory but not in practice.

At a restaurant, the waitress will bring lemon or lime ice water for free. Lemonade costs about $2. I said at the last gathering of Team Jackson, "I ordered de-sugared lemonade." To be frank, once sugared drinks are removed the diet, they seem odious and disgusting.

Mr. Squirrel Leaves a Message

A thank you note would have been better.

I have mentioned how birds remind me to feed them. They show up to chirp at me when I am near the garage door. They come inside to look for food on the garage floor. They even fly over to the cupboards to see if I left the doors open again. The squirrel cleaned me out last year when I did that. I came home to a cupboard full of sunflower seed hulls. He probably invited the whole clan to help.

I keep some corn out for the squirrels most of the time, so one of them left a message recently. I was working around the house and in the driveway. When I came back to the garage, there was an empty cob just in front of the garage door opening, where I could not miss it.

Mr. Squirrel could have said hello from a branch, as the birds do. He could have waved a greedy paw, the one he used to scoop out all the seed from the bird feeder. Leaving an empty cob was a tacit accusation of neglect. That was cold.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ichabod asked about the yellow cardinals. I looked, when snow was still falling, and there were goldfinches already changing color. They love sunflower seeds, so they are regular, persistent feeders.

Many people buy African thistle just for the finches, and I can see why. However, the squirrels like to empty seed socks without eating the food. Anyone can get into the equivalent of the arms race dealing with this. The answer is to buy armored feeders that will allow finches to feed while repelling clever squirrels.

That also means spending even more on thistle seed, which must be made out of gold, considering its price. It is a rank weed, so the seeds are sterilized before being sold, lest they spread through America and kill their business.

Sunflower seeds and suet will fill almost all needs. The squirrels even come over to suet and treat the wire cage as a Dairy Queen cone. Suet and sunflower seeds cost only pennies a week.

More shelter will attract additional birds, but not everyone can live on the edge of a forested ravine. Dripping water will encourage birds and other animals to stop by for a drink and a bath. My best dripper was a large darkroom chemical bottle. One end made it easy to hang from a tree. The valve could be opened so that one drop came out every few minutes. It is that high-pitched dripping that attracts the animals.

When I had a rock waterfall on my pool in Phoenix, geese flying overhead craned their necks to see the source of the water. I thought, "Great. Now they will stop next year and plaster the pool with droppings."

Spring has arrived in Arkansas. I have already started sowing sunflower seeds for the summer crop. I simply toss the black oil sunflower seeds where they have a chance of taking root before being eaten. One little garden area is fallow - meaning I did not feel like digging it up. Covered with decaying leaves, it is ideal for a sunflower garden. I am ordering giant striped sunflower seeds for that garden and some other places.

I buy from seed supply houses because the drugstores and hardware stores sell colorful packets for too much money. They also think I want morning glories for a cheap hippy high. Morning glory seeds are not sold retail in Arizona, while tons of drugs march across the border each day, on the backs of illegal immigrants.

Sunflower seeds can be planted as a fort with sunflower walls, around play equipment, for children and grandchildren. Children like to hide among the growing plants.

Sunflowers are impressive at nine feet tall, with huge disks forming. A squirrel will ride the flower and eat it before the seeds form, then come back and harvest the finished seed-heads.

Another fun project is to have a striped Russian sunflower contest, to see who grows the tallest or the biggest disk. The key to optimal growth is plenty of water and a foundation of manure or compost. Sunflowers are heavy feeders (like corn) and thrive when given all the food they want. They droop as soon as the water level is too low for them; it is surprising how demanding they are.

Meanwhile various creatures enjoy the growing sunflower. Spiders locate there and trap insects. Grasshoppers will land and chew on some leaves, unable to keep up with the growth. It must be an insect's dream come true, to land on food that never stops growing, compensation for a short life. Birds love to see their food moving around on a tall object, too. A Russian sunflower soon creates enough strength to support birds looking for food on the plant or nearby.

My mother was quite an expert on insects. She pointed out to all the phobics that almost all insects are beneficial. They balance each other, as God planned. A lot of pest insects will attract and feed a preying mantis. Cottony maple scale is the perfect food for lady bugs (named after the Virgin Mary). Scale insects landed on a maple tree once and soon lady bugs were all over them.

Ants are the morticians of the insect world, collecting the departed and taking them home for a memorial feast.

Wasps are sadistic, planting their eggs in insect larvae, only to have them hatch in the midst of fresh, moist food.

Sowbugs and pillbugs live in decaying vegetation, hating sunlight. Starlings will march along, with their comical gait, flip over a leaf, and have a meal. And yet people call starlings a pest bird. Few birds are smarter or more active in eating weed seeds and insects.

Christmas Is for the Birds

The main bird feeder, from Duncraft, is only a few feet from my desk - outside the window. The squirrel is already enjoying his corn feeder, nearby on the sill. I added another suet basket, hanging from the first one. My plan is to have a comfortable view of various creatures feeding at once. The multiple feeding arrangement generates noise, and more birds will come because of the noise.

The squirrel does not even try the Duncraft feeder, because his weight on the bar shuts off the supply of seed, which is now pure black oil sunflower.

For your amusement and edification, I compared the price of seed at a store. Blended seed (cardinal on the front) was $2 a pound, while sunflower seed was around 50 cents. Thistle (for finches) and safflower (hated by squirrels) were both higher priced than sunflower. As Bruce Church said, all the blended seed sacks featured various song birds. Sunflower seed is loved by 42 species of birds and costs less than all the other seeds.

The backyard corn feeder attracted a pair of blue jays, the most majestic of all the colorful birds. The jays rested above the feeder, looked around, and landed on the ground to pick up corn. They pecked away at it in the security of the branches above. I noticed them harvesting corn from the ground last year, too.

We probably have many jays living behind our house. We are surrounded by oaks, a favorite habitat for jays. A pair nested in the bush near the Duncraft feeder, so I wonder if they will nest there in the spring and notice the equivalent of a McDonald's outside their door.

"Jay, the nestlings need more food, dear."

"I'll just hop over to the feeder."

"So convenient, Jay. I hope we always nest here at the Jackson's. Grab a few seeds for me, too."

We now have one main feeding station (sunflowers, suet, corn and water). I can be inches away from a chickadee enjoying his suet - a foot away from cardinals, finches, titmice, and chickadees eating sunflower seeds. The squirrel is closest of all, because tree-rats are shameless food hustlers. They cannot be frightened through glass.

Three other places provide seed, corn, and suet. Now I will look for extra nuts for the jays and squirrels.

Some people think it is strange to feed the creatures, but the Lord of Creation shared His nursery with them.

The Donkey

The Donkey

When forests walked and fishes flew
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood,
Then, surely, I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening bray
And ears like errant wings—
The devil's walking parody
Of all four-footed things:

The battered outlaw of the earth
Of ancient crooked will;
Scourge, beat, deride me—I am dumb—
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour—
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout around my head
And palms about my feet.

G. K. Chesterton

Giotto di Bondone, Scenes from the Life of Christ 10.
Entry into Jerusalem, 1304-6,
Cappella Scrovegni, Padova

Sassy Friends the Squirrels

Sassy, the wonder-dog, went along with me on errands yesterday. We often stop at the recycling center, which supports veterans and is run by veterans. That gets us near the Bella Vista post office, which has a waiting line of two people on a busy day.

Just before the recycling center is a neat little hardware store. When I walk in the door, someone meets me and helps me find whatever I want. This time I wanted a garbage can for bird seed and a squirrel feeder. The employee showed me the $10 feeder and found one for even less - "This one looks better too."

Sassy waited outside in the limousine, the Icha-boat. I always roll down the window for air, so she leans out and gives me a big yelp on my way into the store or post office. In spite of her missing back leg, she spends the whole trip watching me drive from between the seats, perched with that back leg on the rear seat, her powerful front legs on the arm rests.

Heading south on 71B means we are aiming at the Bentonville Bark Park, her favorite place. The barking begins early, because she would explode if she had to contain her joy. She is now quite famous as the ball snagger. The other owners depend on us to bring a spare ball, because Sassy gets the other dogs obsessed with her purple one. Tennis balls are always left in the grass, but Sassy is a fashion trend-setter with her special toy.

When we got home and finished our Dairy Queen, it was time to take care of the birds and squirrels.

The squirrel feeder is simple. Two cedar boards are joined, and a large screw comes up from the bottom for impaling an ear of field corn. I wanted to feed a squirrel close up, and this was easy to attach to the window sill. It came with two extra screws and holes in the right place. I actually found my cordless drill and got the job done in a few seconds. Sassy, who supervises all my outside work, was next door with Maynard and Homer, two enormous guard dogs with electronic collars.

Norma Boeckler

Sassy and I also trimmed back the bush near the inexpensive bird squirrel feeder. With some luck the small birds will get more of the food and the squirrels less. I expect to head to the kitchen and see the squirrel defeating my latest effort. The blue jay appearing there was enough to encourage me, and squirrel maneuvers are interesting anyway.

Sassy and I put the new ear of field corn on the feeder and added sunflower seeds to various feeding stations. I am sticking to sunflower seeds alone, because they are the best priced seed and they flow from the feeders better.

Sassy never stops grinning at her ball, knowing I will have to toss it.
Chris enjoys talking to the other dog owners when we go together.

Mother's Day

Our visitor noticed blue jays nesting outside our bedroom window.

Since then we have had many rainy days. The mother blue jay does most of the nesting. I have seen her sitting there in the gloom, rain pouring down, her wings spread over her nest. The outside is cold and damp, but her wings and downy feathers keep the eggs warm and dry.

My window is only 20 inches from her nest, so she glares at me when I look at her progress. If I walk around the outside of the house, she distracts me from her nest by flying nearby and calling out "Jay!"

The blue jay is endowed by her Creator with a self-sacrificing love for her children. A philosopher would advise her, "You should serve your own needs first. Blue jay eggs are a dime a dozen. Take wing and find yourself." But her DNA code, like software, dedicates her to a nobler task.

I have been gathering photos from my high school graduating class, 1966. Some of our mothers are still alive, but many are not. My mother taught in the public schools, so she knew hundreds of parents, many of them fellow teachers.

That was the classic age in public education, when the children were safe. The teachers watched over us and made sure we were prepared for higher education. When I see photos of various students, I remember, "Their mother was a teacher too. I saw her at our house, or PTA, or community functions, or all three."

I just finished scanning our high school yearbook, when we were seniors. We are seniors once again, in a different sense. Instead of getting student discounts we are angling for senior discounts based on age.

Now that we have a world-wide financial crisis, my mother's comments about the Depression make more sense. She mowed lawns and cleaned houses to get through Augustana College, which took a long time while she was teaching in one-room country schools.

My mother grew up on a farm and remembered when electricity was brought to their farmhouse. She would say, "You don't know how good you have it." She was right. We did not. That generation learned frugality during the Depression and self-sacrifice during WWII and Korea. We benefited from both and took the advantages for granted.

When we asked Mom how she accomplished so much, she said, variously:
1. Grew up on a farm.
2. Went through the Depression.
3. Taught in a one-room country school.

I thought about that while I was trying to trim old newsprint. Mom could cut out articles with precision and file them methodically. Many of her books had a review from a major newspaper, taped into the front cover.

One of her many photo albums included a Mother's Day card, which I crafted in class, around fifth grade at Garfield. I wrote: "Congratulations for having a genius son." She must have enjoyed that card, because she kept it for 80 years.

My mother went through a long-term crisis as she lost her short-term memory. Many times she was agitated, angry, and confused. We moved her to our house in Minnesota and then to our home in Arizona, where she died at the age of 90. She turned into the ultimate mother at the end, happy and loving, still active, creating poems on the fly as we wheeled her around the care facility. She led us and the staff in a spirited rendition of "God bless America."

The hospital said, "The nurses all love your mom."

Our neighbors said, "All the children love your mom."

I lost count of the students who came up to me and said, "I had your mother as a teacher. She was the best teacher I ever had."

True genius comes from picking the right parents. As Lincoln said, "All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother."