These go to eleven......

So my dear friend  Naomi nominated Huginn-Muninn for an award.  I am not a frequent winner of awards, so naturally, I was intrigued.  The only issue I have with this particular award is that I really don't get it.  I suppose that I understand the point of the award, but I don't understand the name.  I would bet Naomi doesn't really get it either, but she's polite.   I am not going to make this a point of contention but rather express my gratitude for the honor.   Unfortunately, I have to do more in accepting than just say "thank you"....I have to nominate other blogs  as well as tell the world ten (interesting) things about myself.   This is really the hard part.  I don't much care for talking about me.    My initial impulse was to reveal every horrible vice, character flaw, and hang-up that I harbor, but that seems unhealthy for everyone involved.   Additionally,  being limited to ten items makes choosing from my myriad (sorry, Mike, I know you hate that word) flaws  exhausting.  So I'll just figure it out as I go, I suppose.

Anyway, here's what Naomi had to say about the Honest Scrap award:



1. You express your gratitude, Oscar-style, at getting the award and you credit your nominator. You also paste the Honest Scrap picture on your blog.

2. You tell 10 honest, interesting things about yourself in a blog post. For some bloggers, that may be simple (or hard because they already reveal everything about themselves in their blogs). For me, it's "hard" because my personal idiosyncrasies are really not the purview of my blog -- I mostly keep my other pursuits out of the internet world. Also, I am not predisposed to brag on myself, but nor do I wish to disparage myself in public (as it were). But this will be an atypical entry, I suppose.

3. You choose 7 other blogs to nominate for the award, and notify them, so they can do the same thing. (I read anywhere between 7 and 10 nominations, but I'm going on the low side due to point #3 below.) Of course it's optional, and I almost didn't do it... but then I figured.... why not? It's cool that people -- or at least one person -- wants to know more about me. And I enjoyed reading her 10 things, so..."

And at this point she goes on to reveal ten things about herself, a few of which were news to me.   My favorite is the revelation to the world that she is a reality TV whore.  Kind of a strong word, but I think she would agree with its use.  I also didn't know she had major calendar issues--I gave her one of the calendars she is referring to, and now know she will never receive another from me since she isn't using them properly.

Anyway, here are the seven blogs I do sort of follow, or at least check in with every month or so.

1.    Nature Nerd...A Phenology Blog One of the two I read daily.  Even though I talk to Naomi every day, sometimes she saves the really good stuff for the blog.  Her drawings are amazing.

2.  Chicago Gardener's Journal The second blog I check each morning.....Chris keeps the world updated on what's going on in his head, his garden, and his kitchen.  Oddly enough, he also has four calendars in his house which currently show the wrong month.  Bizarre.

3.   Fractured Thoughts I love reading the Veteran's progress as a somewhat new naturalist.  I also enjoy the fact that he has diverse interests and isn't afraid to write about them--progressive rock posts married with fungi posts is definitely a good thing.

4.  Greentangle What a great quote he uses in his header....I stumbled upon this blog and was compelled to read just because of that quote.  I was was happy to find that the rest of his blog is just as interesting.    His picture reminds me a bit of Edward Abbey, which also makes me like him.  I must remember to list in my ten revelations that I am impossibly shallow.

5.  Rurality Just plain fun to read.

6.  Rocky Mountain Photography I don't remember how I came across this photography blog, but the photos are incredible.  Cody makes the life of a wildlife photographer sound exactly like what it is--hard work.  I also realize, after perusing Cody's photographs, how incredibly sucky Illinois wildlife is.  No elk, no lions, no bear.  We do have chipmunks.

That's it.  I am supposed to have a 7th blog, but I don't.  Six is all I can handle anyway.  I think reading blogs is part of the reason for my inability lately to read actual books.  My attention span which was short to start, is getting shorter.  On that note.....

1.  I don't like salad as much as I should.  I also like salad even less when I have made it myself.


2.  I secretly love People magazine.   I can't really even explain this.  Nor do I want to.


3.  I like Kola better than most people.  And if you knew her you would feel the same way.  My children call me a Dog Hag.  I don't know what this means to them, but I find it amusing.  There are worse things to be called.


4.  I didn't finish college.  I am not proud of this and it is a source of daily regret.  I am however, proud of the fact that most of what I do know, I taught myself.    But no-one is going to give me a job I  because I read some books.  They're all looking for that special piece of paper which I don't have.  This might be okay right now though because what I think I want to do changes from one day to the next.


5.   I talk to birds.  This really irritates the children, but I do it anyway.  I say good morning and goodbye, ask what they're doing, how they're feeling, if it's cold, how the hunting is, etc.   It seems like the right thing to do, so I will continue.  I don't care that they don't answer me.  Someday, one of them will.


6.  I can do a lot of things, but none of them expertly.  I should pick one thing (fly-tying, jewelry-making, tanning, photography, writing, drawing, gardening) and work to do it really well.  Instead, I do a lot of stuff, and all of it half-assed.  There are too many great things to do in the world and I hate choosing.


7.  I was not my fully formed self until I was almost thirty.  I spent a good deal of time being outside as a kid, but I don't think I loved it.  It was a source of irritation and embarrassment for a lot of years (as in, why are we going to a forest preserve when everyone else is going to an amusement park over Spring Break?) and I let it fall away for a long time.  Sometime after our son was born I picked up a copy of  Desert Solitaire for a reason I cannot remember, (possibly because my dad had been badgering me about reading Ed Abbey for years) and that was it.....I have not looked back since and my only regret are the years (five of them before we had children) we could have been camping, walking, climbing and wandering.  Strangely enough, Mike also did not become his real self until around the time I did.  I am glad we moved together and in the same direction though. It would have sucked if I wanted to be nature girl and he took up gambling or hot-rods.  Or, conversely, if he wanted to camp and I started getting manicures.  Now that I think of it, my honeymoon was spent in a one-room, no running water cabin in Michigan, and I was horrified.   That gives a good idea of how different I was.  A honeymoon that sounds like a dream now, but eighteen years ago, I was not down with it.


8.  I enjoy the occasional Gordon Lightfoot disc.  And I had a rather brief, yet thrilling conversation with him on the radio at the age of 11.   Gordon was the first record I ever owned, given to me by my dad.  My musical taste continues to be somewhat odd.


9.  I either love or intensely dislike everything--there's not a lot of in-between for me.   I'm also not into moderation, except for weather.  I hate it when it's under 20 or over 85.  I have 65 degrees in which I can be happy.


10.   I wish I was a runner. I have dreams about running about as often as I do about crows, which is at least once a week.  I probably won't become a runner, but I sure wish I would.


11.  I've had to employ Mike to get this list finished, and his last offering is that I have fingers resembling those of  a tree frog.


So that's 11.  I had no intention of adding the last item, but Mike thought it was too hilarious a fact to leave behind. He also gets credit for remembering the Gordon Lightfoot thing.  I hope I did this right--I have not informed the bloggers I nominated, but I will do so soon.   Which leads to #12...I have a procrastination problem.