The Wall

                                                       A Wall?

The secret is out. Someone here in the United States is determined to build a wall that will serve to protect us all from the dangers of uninvited  individuals who are 'flooding our country, causing alarm and danger to our democratic system and economy'. This wall will be built in a short time and paid for by the country that is sending these people to us. Details might be released in a few weeks. Maybe not.

 Wall of China

    Building walls and barriers is not really anything new. Walls have been used for decades. Many exist today. Everyone has heard of the famous Wall of China, built in the 14th century to stop the attacking nomadic tribes of the time. This huge barrier was 8,550 km, or 5,313 miles in length. The largest man-made barrier built.It’s still standing, but people have found other ways to get in to China..

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Berlin Wall

    The world-famous Berlin Wall was built with a different function in mind. It was erected to keep residents
in! Too many Eastern Germans were escaping to the Western side of the Berlin citylimits after WWII, and the wall stopped their immigration from tyranny. Residents on both side of the wall rebelled and, in time, forced the wall to be destroyed.Meanwhile, western German residents decorated the stark ediface with mocking graffitti before it's demise.

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    A seventy-five mile wall, known as the Hadrian

Hadrian Wall

Wall was built in England to protect their colony of Britiannia from the invasions of Scottish tribes.This wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman empire for nearly three hundred years.Built by the Roman army on the orders of the emperor Hadrian in AD 122, Hadrian’s Wall was made a World Heritage Site in 1987.
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Even in the US, The United States erected a wall dividing the border between Mexico  and the southern border of the US designed to control many immigrants who still wish to work in American fields and domestic services in order to help support their Mexican families back home. In the north, our US  Canadian border is 5,525 miles long, while our southern

border with Mexico is 1,989 miles erected on  a variety of terrain easily crossed in many locations. One southern section of our existing barrier, this desert wall runs through  ‘The Cactus Pipe National Park”.

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Another portion of the Brownsville, Texas barrier protects Americans from southern immigrants with a ‘moveable wall’. A Texas farmer is able to move a section of ‘The Wall’ to provide new grazing areas for his

farm animals, temporarily separating his horse from the barn for the moment.

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 Another section of ‘The Wall’  runs through a resident’s Texas back-yard.

Both are sections of a barricade between the US and Mexican territory covering 1,254 miles of  The Rio Grande River area.

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In Europe,

   “I can’t see a need for a fence”, Rune, the mayor of the Soer-Varanger region on the Russian-Norwegian border, told Reuters. “There are too many fences going up in Europe today.”
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Immigrants crossing into Norway.

Among our European friends, immigration has become a problem as residents are attempting to

escape war-torn countries. To ease the country’s burden of these immigrants, Russian authorities have given bicycles to escaping travelers, urging them to continue their journey into Norway. Norway has recently decided to secure that portion of this Russian-Norway border with added border security and a new fence border.This steel fence is expected to be 600 feet long and eleven feet high.

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Barriers and walls have been utilized for ages to control tribal conflicts. Raids were frequently small groups of raiders, rather then large armies, and shorter length of earth or available material served as defense and usually a deterrent.  Until the 9th century,  Scandinavian people lived in

small Germanic kingdoms and chiefdoms .  The Scandinavian people   appeared as a group separate from other Germanic nations, and at this time there was a noticeable increase in war expeditions (Viking raids) on foreign countries from the seas, which were easier to travel than Europe's inland forests.

Queen Thyra ordering the Danevirke.

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Linear earth barriers built for defense.

Legends mention a queen named Thyra, who ordered a barrier known as“The Danevirke”, to be built in the mid 930s. "Dane’s Dyke” was constructed to control the sea-borne Vikings who used their shore as a landing area. Mounds of earth in long banks were constructed to control the invader’s landing site  providing defending archers higher ground upon which they could attack the invaders who were forced to file through the narrowed approaches, providing easier targets.
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Swedish Götavirke barrer

Remains of Götavirke at the farm of Hageby, in Östergötland. In this image the remains of the dyke run from the bottom right up towards the trees and parallel with the road.
Remains of these barriers or walls have worn down in time, becoming part of the current European landscape and history. It is difficult to imagine the proposed "barriers" proposed in our country to be seen in the future as our scenery or landscape.

 US and Mexican border area.

 Perhaps, there is another way. 

What Could Go Wrong?

The Olympics are over and all events have been completed and evaluated. Competitors trained for years to reach their peak and expected a successful ‘finish’. After all that work, what could go wrong?

A high-diving athlete had trained for years, perfecting a polished routine. The graceful approach to the board was as expected and the diver poised and tested the board with little bounces.Then, something unexpected happened. The diver slipped, falling off the the board, and attempting to regain control, plunged into the
water much as a common cannonball . After all that practice and expecting to score highly, the scoreboard recorded “Zero”. With high expectations, what went wrong?

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The US men’s relay confidently ran their event after long hours of perfecting their time and technique and were happily expecting to, at least, qualify for a medal. Looking at their scoreboard, they were shocked to see “DQ”- “Disqualified” . Electronic monitors detected that

the baton was,at one time, exchanged  outside of the designated exchange area. After all that practice, how could that happen? No one could possibly expect these results. All preparations and routines seemed to be progressing smoothly.  Who knew?

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This has been a very unusual year. Record-high temperatures in one area, floods caused by unusually extreme rain amounts for others while  another area suffers drought conditions all within our US boundaries. While some will say “There’s the way it goes. Just a cycle”, others suspect “There’s something in the air.”  Climatologists have recorded changes in the atmosphere and the presence of heavy smog at times.  We enjoy the products and tend to think these good conditions will never end. But, perhaps, the unexpected is happening.

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Smog is a type of air pollutant. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century as a combination of

the words ‘smoke and fog’ sometimes known as 'pea soup' fog, a familiar and serious problem in London from the 19th century to the mid 20th century. Much like our Olympics, factories around the world have been accelerating their production  for public consumption and profit . Cars and traffic have provided happy travelers and all is well until we begin to see air quality change and problems grow. Who knew this could be a problem?

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Our politicians protect constituents' business interests and are naturally slow to suggest changes,

but changes are ‘in the wind’. Solar and wind energy have been topics of discussion to lessen the need for fossil fuel, but even Wisconsin is reported to be at the bottom in both projects according to the American Wind Energy Association. Electric cars are being produced and improved. Drivers of these ‘electric powered ‘ vehicles comment on high horse-power, but disappointed in range of travel and improvements are desired. The change from ‘fossil fuel’ is slow. Our ‘overseas’ relatives seem to be more highly ‘energized’ to make the change. They seem to know!

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The Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven, has announced that his country will work towards becoming "one of the first fossil fuel-free welfare states in the world," in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

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 Nordic countries already lead the world in renewable energy, with Sweden generating around two-thirds of its electricity through renewable sources.
On one unusually windy day in July, Denmark produced 140 per cent of its electricity needs through wind power alone, exporting the rest of the energy to its neighbors, Germany, Sweden and Norway (one of the biggest oil producers in the world).

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 Almost 100 per cent of Iceland's electricity comes from renewable sources, due to its investment in hydropower and geothermal energy production.Nordic countries already lead the world in renewable energy, with Sweden generating around two-thirds of its electricity through renewable sources

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 But the change is not cheap nor easy.

Making the jump to eradicating fossil fuels entirely in Sweden is a much more difficult task altogether.

In a speech to the Swedish Parliament in which he announced these green policies, Löfven said: "Children

should grow up in a toxin-free environment. The removal of dangerous substances and the idea that the polluter should pay are the basis of our politics."

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In Sweden's planned budget, the government announced it would allocate 4.5 billion kronor next year to  funding  solar panels and wind turbines that will utilize a smarter energy grid and energy storage system. They are getting serious!

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Perhaps this will send an "important signal" to the West. In 1917, Alexander Graham Bell suggested the use of  ethanol from corn, wheat and other foods as an alternative to coal and oil, stating that the world was in ‘measurable distance’ of depleting these fuels. Biofuel and Ethanol are plant-derived gasoline substitutes for powering vehicles.Even algae can be a biofuel  derived from algae( produced quickly in Olympic diving pools, much to the chagrin of RIO Olympic officials). Geothermal energy of the earth's internal heat can be used  to boil water for heating buildings or generating electricity. There are several sources of alternative energy available to replace our fossil fuels.

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Perhaps concentrating on these sources might improve our environment before we find our aquatic athletes diving into pristine green water while‘scoring a zero’ and track-runners unable to see in the smog and we realize that we can no longer cleanly ‘hand off the baton’ to the next generation.

Maybe we already know!

Poky-what?

What’s going on?

There I was, propped against a tree with a my geo-cache GPS in my hand. I just found the cache in the tree knot-hole above me and sat down to rest. Looking around, I thought of  Rip Van Winkle waking up after his long nap.( Believe that?)

Things have changed!

My hand-held GPS is getting old, but cache-finding is still popular. But now, there’s this “Poke-something". In the news, I heard this poky-thingy is causing anxiety due to certain convicted people using it as a lure to get youngsters to their location! Others are wandering out of the country using this thing! I must be the only one who has been sleeping. Time to check this out.

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 Back in "The Day”, a great computer, Commodore came out, at that

Mario!

time a fun hand-game with the Atari name and our fingers were busy! Mario jumped from one wall to another, and soon every one one of us had to play Pong. Nothing dangerous about that, but loads of fun! Soon, rockets put satelites in the air and things got complicated. That’s when I must have gone to sleep.

Pong!

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This poky-thing came up at the Super Bowl and current newspaper readers are concerned about this new video game.Time to see what’s happening.

It’s  called POKEMON!

( Sure not English!) As usual, it comes from overseas. POK-E-MON is not new coming from a Japanese combination of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures!. The name comes from contractions of the Japanese “Poketto” and “Monsut”  or “Pocket Monsters”in English  around 1990, and now the second-most

Satoshi Tajiri

 successful video game-based media in the world ( behind Nintendo’s Mario). The original Pokémon was a role-playing game created by Satoshi Tajiri  in 1995. His concept of the game stemmed from the hobby of insect collecting, one of his favorite pastimes. Players use cards, attempting to defeat their opponent by “knocking out” opponents cards while the captured is added to the winner’s collection. The game is widely popular, however not without some concerns.

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In the USA, there seems to be little social concern, however, while the games have been released at the same time in Norway, they are not in Norwegian, but in English. The only Norwegian language game is their practice of trading cards online.At it’s original viewing in Norway, the series was accused of marketing Pokémon merchandise due to commercials and marketing towards children being illegal in Norway. It took some time before unedited versions were allowed  in Norway while most episodes of the series were simply the American versions with an added Norse dub track.

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In Norway the anime is available on Netflix. In the year of 2000 the soundtrack album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was translated into Norwegian under the title Pokémon Du må fange dem alle!.

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In the latest news, American players are noticing  changes to the game that omits features that aid players' awareness of what distance they may be from  their objective.Some players are not enthusiastic about the current versions.

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Critics of the games have noted that back in December 1997, more than 635 Japanese children were admitted to hospitals with epileptic seizures caused by watching an episode of Pokémon "Denno Senshi Porygon", or "Electric Soldier Porygon". In this particular episode, there were bright explosions with rapidly alternating color patterns. Researched, it was determined that the strobe-light effects caused some individuals to have epileptic seizures, even if the person had no previous history of epilepsy.

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 Two youths unaware of their surroundings when they were playing Pokémon  GO on their cell phones made an illegal border crossing  from Canada into the United States in a remote part of Montana. Border officials said the two youngsters were found  with their attention riveted on their phones while they were trying to hunt down cartoon characters on a journey that took them over the border."Both juveniles were so captivated by their Pokémon GO games that they lost track of where they were," said Michael Rappold, a spokesman for the agency”.

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In 1999, two nine-year-old boys from  New York sued Nintendo because they claimed the Pokémon Trading Card Game caused their problematic gambling.

But, the game’s popularity continues to grow.

.As of May 2016, the Pokémon media franchise has grossed revenues of  $46.2 billion USD. The franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006 and the twentieth anniversary was celebrated with a commercial at the 2016 Super Bowl using the theme: "I can do that".

So far, I haven’t heard any great complaint about my old geo-cache,

 So, on with the games!

Who Knew?

I don't believe it!

As our Sons of Norway meeting drew to completion, the President asked “ Is there anything else before we close?” One of our members replied? ”Yes, Next week there will be a horse show nearby, and it will have fjord horses in the competition. You are welcome to come and see them up close.” She went on to say that all of the horses would be entered in a jumping event. Fjord horses jumping?  This, we had to see! We were going to a horse-show!

Gracie on Sandy

   Searching the websites, no publicity could be found, but we knew the location and the address was just a few miles from our house. We found the farm at 9 AM that next Saturday and saw very few people amidst incoming horse  trailers.

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While talking to the people getting their horses ready, we learned that the event was actually a club event for horse owners and riders who were “learning the ropes” and were going to compete in a practice competition not really open to the public. So, we had all the owners and riders to ourselves!

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 Our Sons of Norway lady came over to talk with us. Her thirteen-year-old granddaughter was to be the rider on their young fjord horse! And me, being “not vastly knowledgeable” of this event despite having been around horses on “Grandpa’s Farm” years ago, had tons of questions!
 With very few other spectators around, owners, riders, and grandma seemed to enjoy answering. We had a great time on this horse-farm watching action on the “dressage arena”, French for the “training exhibition” area, and all our questions were answered.

Before they began the first event, instructions were given to each rider, such as " At point X, canter to point C..Right turn to V and trot to point S, Left turn and...etc)". This had to be memorized. It seemed like Sandy, the fjord was listening!

Sandy in competition

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The 'dressage' event apparently was a favorite of the horses as they went through the trot, canter, half-whatever event with no verbal commands. The horse knew what to do by sensing the rider's motions while under the eyes of two judges. One owner explained that the horses liked the drill, because they knew “they looked pretty!”. As we watched, the grand-daughter and her dun-colored horse combination looked like a winner! They really are pretty.

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The Fjord is not a big horse. The height is measured in ‘hands’ of between 13 and 14 hands; (which is 53 and 59 inches) at the withers  (the area right in front of the saddle) and weight normally ranges from 400 to 500 kilograms (880 to 1,100 lb). Though some may fall under the traditional cutoff between horses and ponies, the Fjord  is considered a horse, regardless of height. However, this animal is a  very strong horse breed from the mountainous regions of western Norway.

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A Fjord at home in Norway

 It is an agile breed of light work-horse build. All Fjord horses are dun in color which is usually a sandy tan, but the distinctive white mane with a dark center is the universal  fjord  trademark.  Amongst Fjord Horse aficionados, the dark section of hair in the middle of the mane is described by the Norwegian terms as midtstol, and darker hair in the middle of the tail is called the halefjær.The Fjord horse is one of the world's oldest and purest breeds and known to have existed in Norway since the end of the last ice age. It is believed that the ancestors of the modern Fjord horse migrated to Norway and were domesticated over 4,000 years ago.

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 The Fjord horse and its ancestors have been used for hundreds of years as farm animals in western Norway.Today, the Fjord horse is a favorite at Norwegian riding and the therapeutic schools, as it’s mild temperament and small size make it suitable for children and disabled individuals. These horses can even be therapeutic to fellow horses.

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 At this event, “Tucker”, another fjord, did not compete, but came along as a horse’s companion. Right now, it’s ‘lunch-time’ as they pull hay out of the feed-bag. The competitor buddy was getting it’s “tack”, or bridle, saddle, etc  ready for the show.
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Sandy in action

But again, can a fjord jump?
The ‘jumping-arena’ was covered by an array of piled logs, with jumps ranging  from a foot high to approximately 2-3 feet, including a  length of black tires, which according to one owner “All horses hate” but they all made it over the dreaded tires, sometimes with repeated efforts. All were given ratings in their own experience classifications. Apparently, three days of competition was packed into one day and horses and riders  had a very busy day. As for jumping, maybe not  very high, but Fjords can jump!  We left before the final event but were impressed by how this Norwegian animal handled it all.

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At our next meeting, this grandmother come to us and exclaimed  “Sandy ( the Fjord) and Gracie  (The thirteen-yr-old rider and granddaughter) came in fifth place after all the events!” This, in competition with about 30 competitors is quite a feat! 

Good Show!

...

It Was A Long Day!

It was only June, but it was a hot July-type day and we were out under the sun with a crowd of people who were impatiently maneuvering to better their position and everyone around us was looking westwardly at the setting sun.

It was the longest day of the year, a day called The Summer Solstice. We had just left the Minneapolis area whose residents were expected to celebrate the day with songs, dances and delicacies while circling the annual Maypole. A day to celebrate the sun after a long cold winter. But at this time, we were on the highway having left the celebrations , finding ourselves in a mass of cars heading south,  most likely trying to get back to work and earn more money in order to be able to return to the north next weekend! Sun worshipers of a different nature. It truly was the longest  day of the year!

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There has been many examples of  catastrophic episodes in history and it is easy to imagine 'Early Man' observing eclipses , meteorites, comets and other phenomena and connecting it with the sun disappearing in dark clouds and wild weather. All controlled by an apparent invisible god-the Sungod.

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The sun has been given an extraordinary position in early human culture , possibly as social leaders used their knowledge of seasons to maintain their own power and status through the ignorance of the masses. After a long winter of little or no sunlight, everyone would welcome and celebrate the anticipated season of growth and renewal. The word 'solstice' comes from the Latin 'sol' ( sun) and 'steare' ( to stand and stop) while  it's celebration dates back to ancient pre-Christian tradition. For the Greeks, it would mark the start of the new year. Our Native American tribes celebrate the longest day of the year with a Sun Dance.

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Songs and dancing around the maypole are traditional Midsummer fare. This with handcrafts, and flowery wreaths help create a joyous time. Midsummer, also known as St John's Day, is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice on a day between June 19 and June 25 , beginning on the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different cultures.
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Scandinavian celebrations included everyone. Sweden residents celebrated their "Midsummer" with games after dancing around the Maypole..a Maypole in July!?
Raising and dancing around a maypole (majstång or midsommarstång) is an activity that attracts families and many others. Greenery placed over houses and barns was expected to bring good fortune and health to people and livestock; This old tradition of decorating with greens continues,  though most don't take it seriously. att maja' (to may) be the origin of the word.  Other researchers say the term came from German merchants who raised the maypole in June because the Swedish climate made it impossible to find the necessary greens and flowers in May, but continued to call it a maypole. Today, however, it is most commonly called a "midsommarstång" (literally midsummer pole).. To decorate with greens was called 'majstång,

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The night before would be marked by fires. Early fires must have been used as warning signals to friends making them award of invaders. In this case, the highlands would be the first to welcome the new sun. These fires are known today as bonfires and enjoyed even by today's celebrations in annual events.Scholastic students annually gather anything burnable in a great heap and enjoy the burning spectacle of  'The Bonfire' before the Homecoming Game.

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The "piling" of material to burn is  noted in history .  In Norway and Denmark, the man event is and was the Jonsok" or the birth of "John, The Baptist". Mock weddings between adults and even children were meant to symbolize the blossoming of new life.When Christianity entered pagan areas, these celebrations came to be transferred into these traditions.At nightfall, the traditional mountain fires would be lit on June 23rd anticipating the coming celebrations.

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 The celebration of Midsummer's Eve came from ancient times in festivals of the summer solstice. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southward again. A 13th century English monk recorded that St. John's Eve ceremonies were to include cleaning the area of winter rubbish and bones and then burn them. The smoke from these bonefires were expected to drive away all evil spirits of the cold winter season. As time went on, the 'e' disappeared, but the bonfire remained to this day.

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June is marked on our calendar as the beginning of summer and, more importantly, vacation-time and outdoor activities that often include traveling long distances. Even Finnish people are known to mass-exist their cities for countryside cabins for days. Americans crowd the beaches, lakes, nightly bonfires; then hurry home on Sundays to prepare for the next weekend's return trip to the country to enjoy the sunshine.

There is an old saying "Very little changes, under the sun".