The Lone Prairie Blog

Image © Julie R. Neidlinger. All rights reserved. I don’t know how the kids did it, during the pandemic. I don’t know how they were able to learn via Zoom and online platforms. How were you able to, for example, diagram a sentence without spitballs flying overhead? How were you able to work the quadratic equation without some moron in the back row tossing freshly sharpened pencils into the ceiling tiles? How were you able to learn without textbooks, piles of paper and noteboo

Probably Scaber Stalks or Rough-Stemmed Boletes mushroom, found near the International Peace Gardens in North Dakota. Image © Julie R. Neidlinger There are only two glorious moments that I remember back on my old Twitter account: getting a like from British actor John Nettles , when I said that I only watch Midsomer Murders  episodes that he was in, and when Kenny Rogers liked a tweet that said the lyrics to his song “The Gambler” had all the life advice you needed. Kenny Rog

A couple of things have mucked up my regular weekly blogging schedule. First, squirrel wars. May God strike the neighbor’s black walnut tree with lightning so that it ceases to exist, preferably when all the neighborhood squirrels are in it. I can’t say much more; it’s been severe battle conditions to save my plants, pumpkins, potted bulbs, and sanity. But I’m serious about this occupying way too much of my time. Secondly, and more importantly, picking up the mic.