Mar 11, 2009 by Naomi.

I just received word that a friend passed away. But the reason for that being my subject now is that while on my drive home from a meeting of Richland’s library building committee I was pondering the quotations about philosophy we considered placing on the library’s entry wall.

“Study widely before exiting life.”

As I left the parking lot I cut too sharply and in such a hurry that my rear tire thumped over the curb. I wondered if the driver in the fast traffic behind me shrugged over my sloppy exit. I had to turn at the next corner and that car behind me had little warning.

Exit. There was the noun again. My brain insisted on dwelling on that word. Of course I would eventually exit. This world. My life. Everyone does sooner or later. And I immediately determined that when I did I wanted to go out alone. That is, without taking some other beings with me.

I know that sounds morbid but just think. Drivers fall asleep. Sick people have heart attacks while driving. In both cases occupants of the oncoming cars are unsuspecting losers. When I go I prefer to be completely alone so as not to take others with me.

Nancy once wrote that people had unused brain parts of which we are unaware. Was this part of my brain preparing me for my friend’s death announcement to come? Her exit and my obsession with the word are otherwise totally unconnected.

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Mar 10, 2009 by Naomi.

March 10, 1963, a particularly interesting day for me. For one thing, I was in a comfy warm bed with competent a doctor at my side, well, at my end. Ron had taken me to the St Cloud hospital in the middle of the night and when I wasn’t in a rush to produce, he went home to check on our older children - thirteen, twelve and ten years old - alone in the country. Fathers were sent to the waiting room in those days but he was not pleased to sit around drinking coffee. He was more than a bit concerned about his creative and active kids left on their own and he paced. He was reasonably confident of my birthing expertise but he had to get out and get a smoke.

And honestly, he was less confident about his very pregnant Irish Setter, Daisy, because the Minnesota weather had turned bitter cold as it is wont to do in the middle of March. Imagine for a moment the sub zero temperature and an animal, even though adjusted to outdoor living, bulky with a body swollen ready to deliver her first litter. She had to be fed and watered regularly and supplied with clean straw in which to burrow. Her body was cumbersome so she was not agile. He was really worried. She was anxious the day before and he wanted to make sure she would get along all right.

Turned out she got along better than all right. Ron opened the front door to find Daisy and her very wet, recently delivered puppies, all lively and healthy on the foot-wipe rug just inside. Mike explained he had froze his fingers when he went out to feed her. Being sensibly endowed with human compassion he brought her inside before she birthed to be safe and warm. Him, too.

Ron apologetically explained the mess when he returned to find I had expelled our fourth child, our third son. It was a doubly eventful day. We joyfully recalled the experience on the anniversary for years after. I still do. Happy Birthday, Daniel Albert Sherer.

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Mar 10, 2009 by Naomi.

One long day. Putting the hour hand ahead an hour yesterday did make my day longer. Oatmeal and raisins nuking while I drink vegetable juice. Just a normal ordinary day. But oh what I did do! Washed my breakfast dishes, shower, off to the Refuge - must have my fun you know. We (the outdoor learning experience team) made plans for a more intense nature study for the thousand of kids coming in May. The waterfowl have gone north so birdwatching will go forward to the colorful songbirds.

Overhead the sky was clear and the sun was warm and bright - fierce looking black clouds hung around the edges but I determined to get some fresh air time so out I went and installed weed cloth by the native plants. Moving the stumps (our stumphenge) away from the kestrel nest so as not to intimidate the home builders. Last year a variety of species looked at the condo (the pole with the box about 8 feet high) but no one moved in. The stumps we use for stools were simply too close. So I move them.

I worked up a sweat and quit before I was too breathless and headed for home. But you know what? Almost as soon as I got into my leisure dudes, the black clouds swarmed overhead and dumped snow all over my yard. And the neighbors too. I’m happy it melted within the hour on my warm good earth, because my earthworms are doing their lonesome isolated tedious work and I don’t want them getting pneumonia. They have a job to do, after all. One that I am totally incapable of doing. Ever think of sucking sand and rotting leaves through the gut just because somebody has to do it? Yuck! But that’s what finding your special niche is all about.

But better them than me. And besides the robins need good healthy fat protein to raise their babies. It all works out. What a very long day to contemplate! And it is only the first one of our glorious daylight saving springing into summer. Finally the sun fell off the west side of the earth out of my sight and I can go beddy bye.

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