Echoes from the Loafers’ Club meeting

“Your sermon was wonderful, Pastor. It was so invigorating, inspiring, and refreshing.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I felt like a new man when I woke up.”

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: Bad peaches are dreadful because good peaches are divine.

A diet that works

Pat Staloch of Hartland has attended and worked at many schools during his lifetime. He says that some schools have great lunches and some not so great. At one school, Pat said, the lunch hour is occupied by people trying to guess what the food is.

A peach of a day

I bought some peaches. The clerk at a fruit stand in Port Clinton, Ohio, took my money. I smiled. She smiled back and said, “It’s nice to see someone smile. The weather has had everyone mean mugging today.”

A fuel’s paradise

My wife and I were discussing my unintended penchant for allowing the low fuel light to glow in my car before I fill it with gas. I just need a reminder. Al Hunnicutt of Wells added that my fuel gauge requires another letter. It has F for full and E for empty. Al says it needs the letter W for walk.

School daze

The discussion was about being in elementary school and staring ahead at whatever it was we stared at. A man from Red Wing told me that he stared at his teacher. He added that she was a fetching young woman. A woman from Red Wing said that she stared at a picture of a cardinal. She was enthralled with its redness and beauty. I remember staring at a map and wondering what it was like in other places and whether people in those other places were staring at a map and wondering what it was like where I lived. Looking at that map filled with strange names of exotic places caused me to fidget in my chair.

A tale of a tornado

Nordean Krueger of Albert Lea lives in an area that was hit hard by tornadoes this winter. Nordean was working at removing debris when a vehicle with Iowa plates pulled near and stopped. Nordean figured it was just more people stopping to take photographs. A man and a boy got out of the car. The man asked Nordean if he needed help. Nordean answered that he was doing OK, but the man insisted.

“My son wanted to see the damage,” said the visitor. “I told him that if I brought him north to see the wreckage, he would have to pay to see it. We’ve seen what the tornado has done. Now we want to help.”

The two pitched in and worked rigorously removing the flotsam and jetsam. After the work was completed for the day, Nordean asked the volunteers, “What do I owe you?”

The man brought his son close and said, “What do we owe you?”

Café chronicles

I was up early for breakfast and arrived at the café in the Alaska town before the rush.

“It’s a beautiful day,” I said as an intended pleasantry.

“Thank you,” replied the busy waitress.

It became apparent to me, that at least in Alaska, the waitresses are responsible for the weather.

Nature notes

Tim Penny of Owatonna asked how to discourage crows from roosting in trees. When roosts occur near homes or along streets, thinning side branches from the trees used by birds may disperse them. Disbanding a roost by frightening requires a number of consecutive evenings to be successful. Devices include recorded distress or alarm calls, gas-operated exploders, battery-powered alarms, pyrotechnics (adhering to local ordinances), bright lights, and spraying birds with water from a hose or from sprinklers mounted in the roost.