Celebrations

© harrington

Welcome. Thanks for visiting. Today is a day full of celebrations. This morning, the daughter person was awarded her Master's Degree in Human Resources (and Industrial Relations) from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. Celebration #1 was lunch at the Dockside in Stillwater. Celebration #2 was finding a parking space withing walking distance of the Dockside. Celebration #3 was because we didn't get rained on during lunch. (The rain actually didn't start until 20 minutes or so after we finished lunch and had done some other errands and were on our way home.) Before we get to some of the other things we're celebrating today, let me ask you: Can you see a sandhill crane in the picture above? It's almost exactly in the middle and it looks almost exactly like the stumps in the picture. After I took this photo, I looked again and the crane had disappeared. I didn't see it fly away. My wife, sitting in the car, said she didn't see it fly either, but neither of us could see it any more. Magic? Did you ever read about the cloak of invisibility in Harry Potter? We think the crane sat down and became invisible. It worked like magic. Now, on the way back from lunch today, driving in the rain, we took the back road by the swan pond and there they were. So, my wife and daughter got to see the swans that were "discovered" (they knew where they were the whole time) the other day. Celebration #4. But, you say, why the story about the disappearing crane? Since you asked, I'll tell you now. Not a quarter mile from the swans, on top of a hill in a freshly disked field were 6 or 7 or 8 sandhill cranes. Celebration #5. It's not every day we get to see a whole flock of cranes. Celebration #6 is because we all got to share the first 5 celebrations together (daughter person, her significant other; my wife, me). I'd say that's pretty good for a rainy Monday in May in My Minnesota. One more celebration: today is the last day of the legislative session. I hope they all get safely home, chill out, and come to their senses before they start a session again next year. Thanks for listening. Come again when you can. Rants, raves and reflections served here daily.